


Indemnification

by Firefury_Amahira



Series: The Ultimate Saga [5]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Comedy, Dark, Dark Comedy, Episode: s02e08-09 The Ultimate Enemy, Forgiveness, Gen, Other, Reality Gauntlet, Redemption, Rivalry, Violence, except not really redemption, future timeline, hate!ship, things explode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 00:10:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 104,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7779043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firefury_Amahira/pseuds/Firefury_Amahira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The smoke has cleared, the ashes settled and swept away to become memory, Amity Park is once again thriving and its survivors flourishing after ten years being terrorized by a vengeful ghost. When Dan returns to his timeline, now cured of his madness, it is not to a warm welcome. None of the survivors believe that the formerly-insane ghost has turned over a new leaf, his rival Valerie least of all. But when the completely unforeseen consequences of Dan's yearlong absence from the timeline unleash an even greater and vastly more destructive ghost from the depths of Ghost Zone history, the most unlikely of allies will have to set aside their ten year grudge to stop it.</p><p>Assuming that they can stop fighting one another long enough to do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Indecision

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Danny Phantom. Nickelodeon and Viacom do, and they are very big companies armed with lots of money and lawyers. 
> 
> This was originally posted to my FFN account almost a decade ago, the fourth and final story in what would later become a trilogy-in-four-parts that I am finally bringing over to AO3. This iteration of "the saga" (I really do need to come up with a proper name for the entire collection) is mostly unaltered from the original, save for typo and formatting fixes that slipped through in the original FFN run.
> 
> You can generally get what's going on in this fic without having read Jeremiad or Anathema (I do recommend reading them, though!) but if you haven't read Benediction at least, Indemnification is not going to make a whole lot of sense.

**Prologue: Indecision**  
"Between hope and despair  
The future doesn’t pass  
And the past won’t overtake the present  
All that remains is an obsolete illusion"  
_-"The Phantom Agony" - Epica_ **  
**

            "What the-?" He stared at the scene spread out far below, at an absolute loss for words.

            And while he would never admit it, a pastry-based exclamation _had_ almost been his initial reaction.

            The city below seemed to be writhing like some sort of giant, hideous alien life form, strange growths blanketing the snarled green mass. That wasn't far off the mark, though his sudden exhalation of red vapor made it clear that this invasion was ghostly rather than alien in nature. The sounds of a fight tugged his attention toward the source of the problem.

            It _was_ a ghost, though it was by far one of the biggest he'd ever seen. The green spook towered above everything, all vines and thorns like a monster from an old drive-in B movie. He mentally slapped himself for the comparison; he was too young to know about drive-ins! Still, such knowledge from the older half of his being _did_ improve his witty banter.

            A flare of green, coupled with a strange gleam of sunlight as if reflected on broken glass dragged his attention away from the grass monster. It wasn't surprising; he'd watched his alternate self from afar for most of the summer. There was no doubt that fourteen-year-old Danny Phantom would fight the intrusion, even if it _was_ an oversized salad bar.

            Still, something was simply _wrong_ , even from his aerial vantage. For one, nothing that the half-ghost did seemed to be having any appreciable effect. Any damage Danny did seemed to mend itself well before he could capitalize on it. For another thing, it seemed quite strange the sheer volume of shattered glass that seemed to follow-.... No, that wasn't glass. Perhaps something similar-?

            _He's retreating-?_

            _That_ was badly out of character. Danny didn't run. Danny _never_ ran. Not even from **him** , his own potential future! Frowning, he dared to fly lower for a better look, turning invisible as he descended.

            That closer look didn't bode well. Danny's face was nearly a perfect match to _his_ blue complexion, the young half-ghost quaking uncontrollably as if cold-

            _Are those **icicles** hanging off him?_

            Danny was nearly oblivious to everything; he certainly hadn't noticed the older ghost tailing him. A tentacle-like vine bristling with thorns shot toward the younger half-ghost, only to freeze midair encased in solid ice the moment it got near the shivering teen.

            _Where is he going?_

            The half-ghost was retreating toward FentonWorks... to the Ghost Zone? More vines shot forward, only to freeze or be clumsily dodged by the narrowest of margins. What on earth was _wrong_ with the teen? The cold air coming off the boy was positively arctic!

            "Danny, become part of the growth!"

            He spun around, mouth hanging wide open in surprise at the low, even sultry female voice behind him; familiar and yet not. The figure was likewise familiar, though alien; clad in a jagged green dress, her oddly glowing green eyes outlined sharply by strange black markings. And she, _she_ of all people was controlling the vines attacking his alternate self.

            _That can't be Sam! Unless..._ He looked in the direction of the plant ghost, red eyes narrowing to dangerous slits as if he could see the ghost through the intervening layers of concrete. _Unless **he** is controlling her._

            Danny was definitely in full retreat from the battleground. Perhaps he was running from the puppet-Sam; though it was more likely that he simply could no longer fight, nearly frozen solid himself. As he watched, the teen disappeared into FentonWorks with Sam hot on his heels. Meanwhile, the puppet master ghost himself loomed gargantuan above the city skyline, laughing his delight to the sky.

            That left _him_ in a bit of a quandary. If his past self could no longer fight and had run away from the battle, what was standing between that green spook and the destruction of Amity Park? It was evident that the Fentons had failed in fighting the ghost; he'd seen _that_ particular debacle. Really, if he hadn't turned intangible as well as invisible when he did, he would have been splattered against the front of the Fenton RV.

            He didn't want to particularly get involved. This wasn't his timeline, wasn't his city to defend. Heck, in an alternate timestream, it was the city he had destroyed. Razed to the ground, and he'd taken immeasurable delight in the destruction.

            Still, that ghost was horning in on _his_ turf, temporally displaced or not. Sam was some sort of meat puppet thanks to that spook; and that alone rankled enough to make up his mind.

            "Hey, cabbage patch!" He called, flying up into the air and turning visible, blasting the ghost's head clean off with a brilliant green blast.

            That approach seemed about as successful as when Danny had first tried it. In other words, not at all.

            "Oh, another pest come to infest my garden?" The ghost sneered, sending several thorny vines lashing toward him.

            He darted to the side and barely dodged them, growling when he felt his cape tug and rip from the near miss. He could repair the cloak easily enough, it was nothing more than vanity that irked him about the ripped fabric. A flurry of green blasts signaled his response, ripping gaping holes in the ghost.

            "You can't destroy Undergrowth!" The ghost declared as the holes mended in the blink of an eye. "You fool, are you blind _and_ stupid? I regenerate whatever damage you manage to do!"

            "And _I've_ turned bigger targets than you into vapor." He hissed in response, charging a large green energy blast in his hands. "You can't regenerate from _nothing_."

            The blast would have been enough to vaporize the ghost in a single shot. He was proud of his capacity for destruction; there wasn't a single ghost in the Ghost Zone that could survive his wrath. This overgrown weed would fall like so many others had. He hefted the blast over his head, moments from launching it when he stopped almost as if he'd been hit. Sure, he could destroy the ghost in a single blow.

            If he didn't mind flattening fully half of the city along with it.

            It was a familiar urge, a desire to stomp out the reminders of his past. The green blast fizzed out in his hands as he fought down that entirely too seductive desire. Vaporizing Amity Park in this timeline would do nothing to resolve his problems. It wouldn't undo the ten years of slaughter in his timeline, and it wouldn't bring anyone back from the dead. If anything, it might have killed dozens, even hundreds of people; including Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. He owed his sanity to his red-headed older sister, and he would not harm her if it could be avoided.

            "Realized how weak you are compared to me?" Undergrowth taunted.

            "He'll make an excellent meal for the children." Sam floated up alongside the plant ghost, cradled by thorny vines.

            "Get out of my way, Sam." He snarled at the girl.

            "I won't let you hurt Father, Danny." She responded in an icy tone.

            He recoiled slightly at that. That wasn't the name he went by, not anymore; but being called that would always sting. Especially coming from Sam, whether or not she was currently under the control of something else.

            "You know you can't _stop_ me from tearing him apart, limb from limb." He bit out, showing his fangs in a snarl. "You might have stopped _Danny_ with that, but you can't stop _me_."

            He turned intangible, scowling as Sam lunged at him in the midst of a flurry of spiked-lined vegetation. Sam wasn't his target, it was that leafy monstrosity pulling her strings that he wanted to tear apart.

            Still, the hours passed and he wasn't making much progress against the leafy ghost. The vines were overwhelming the city, though he seemed to be effectively slowing the process by distracting the ghost and by torching the rampant vegetation. He'd lost track of Sam in the chaos; heck, he'd lost sight of any of the people since he was too preoccupied evading attacks and trying to do some lasting damage to the ghost. Undergrowth couldn't actually harm him, but he couldn't do any lasting damage to the spook unless he wanted to level buildings in the process.

            Heck, the decrease in his already short temper was evident where he'd shot vines with a little _too_ much enthusiasm, damaging the structures underneath the plant life.

            His temper was near the breaking point by the following afternoon. He hadn't seen a sign of human life anywhere for hours. The idea of the collateral damage from taking Undergrowth out was diminishing in importance, and he was beginning to seriously consider half the city as acceptable damage if it meant taking the spook out. The timely sound of a new fight starting was probably the only thing that stopped him from doing it.

            He dodged some vines that had suddenly become haphazard in their attack and went for height to better survey the area. Something else had Undergrowth's attention, and he wanted to know what. He had to get several hundred feet over the battlefield before he saw it; the same gleam of sunlight on glass... or rather, on _ice_ that had alerted him to Danny's role in the fight before the teen had been forced to flee.

            He couldn't hear the words being exchanged from that altitude, but whatever strange affliction had driven his past self to retreat was apparently cured. If anything, Danny seemed to be fighting better than ever. Deciding his part of the battle was over, he hovered far overhead and went invisible again, opting now to merely spectate.

            _How is he making all that ice?_ He pondered, watching as Danny effectively froze vast tracts of the ghostly vegetation solid. _That was happening before, but it looks like he's doing it at will now._

            He paused, a frown crossing his invisible visage. _Another ghost power? Why can't I do something like that? He developed the Ghostly Wail a long time before I did as well. Is he somehow growing in strength faster than I am?_

            If that was true, the Danny Phantom of this timeline would likely be a far more dangerous opponent ten years down the line than he was, despite the initial boost in sheer power he developed after the freakish circumstances of his creation. Not just in terms of sheer power, but in range of abilities as well. If the boy already obtained the Wail and now this unknown ice power, there was no telling what abilities the teenager would develop in the coming years.

            As he watched Danny lay the frosty smackdown on Undergrowth, he realized he did not want to witness that. A sort of morbid curiosity had started his months-long observation of the teen he had once considered as 'his weakness' with nothing but contempt. Now however, it was clear that Danny Fenton was far from being weak and ineffective; indeed, the teen was proving to be more effective than he could ever have been all those years ago, and he didn't like knowing that. It was an uncomfortable reminder of what he _could_ have done, had things worked out differently. His power was destructive; strength for the sake of taking things apart, breaking them, dismembering them. His alternate self was clearly proving to be a more versatile, protective force, able to succeed where he had failed so spectacularly.

            He didn't stick around to watch Danny finish the ghost off; once it was evident the teen would be able to save the day without any help, he flew across town to the Nasty Burger. Amusingly enough the fast-food place that had played such a significant role in _his_ history had become his favorite haunt when he wasn't lurking in the Ghost Zone. It was familiar, but in a less personal way than FentonWorks, despite it being where he'd watched his friends and family die horribly over ten years ago. So he settled on the roof of the building, thinking.

            Thought was still something of a new thing for him. Those ten years of madness were not devoid of thought, but he knew now that his actions had largely been to preoccupy himself so he _wouldn't_ think. Frankly, being rational after all that, being _sane_ left him at no small loss. Not too long ago, he would have avoided that strange feeling by blowing something up; now he had the rational self-restraint and even consideration for others to refrain from acting on that destructive urge. Or at least he knew that blowing stuff up would land him in an undesirable situation.

            Clockwork had pointed out he could leave this alternate timeline and go back to the future he'd created. The problem arose in that he was pretty certain he _didn't_ want to go face that. The other problem was that he wasn't doing anything worthwhile with himself in this timeline. He idly plucked the time medallion from where he'd hidden it in his jumpsuit, studying the gear-shaped trinket in the fading daylight. It was obvious he wasn't going to come to a decision on his own.

            He contemplated tracking Jazz down and talking to her about it. Almost immediately he decided that wasn't a good idea. The redhead's psychologist-in-training mindset had helped him prior, but she would try too hard to analyze him; and the idea made him thoroughly uncomfortable. He could try talking to his alternate self; that idea was dismissed instantly. Danny would no doubt be suspicious and wary of him; the teen would suggest ditching the medallion and going back to the future automatically. That left him with precious few options as he stood up and lifted off from the rooftop.

\---

            Sam yawned, pulling the dark curtains closed over her window as she got ready for bed that night. Danny had summarized what she only remembered bits and pieces of from the past two days; being brainwashed by Undergrowth probably explained why the goth girl was so flat out tired. Tucker had been wiped out after that mess with Desiree months ago and after the Scarab Scepter incident, so it made perfect sense she'd be similarly exhausted after having been controlled by the leafy spook. She turned away from the covered window.

            And ran smack into a tall, cold figure that was standing behind her that wasn't there a moment ago.

            Now, being as Sam was far from a wilting flower, she did not shriek or scream at the presence of an intruder; though she jumped backward a good few feet with a gasp before she recognized the ghost. Which really wasn't reassuring, because it wasn't the ghost she usually expected to find sneaking up on her in the evening. It had been months since anybody had seen the intimidating fire-headed spook; no one in the real world _or_ the Ghost Zone had seen the frightful form of Danny's alternate future self. Danny himself had begun to doubt anyone would see the ghost again after the mess with the Ghostcatcher and Jazz's successful use of psychology to tame the psychotic spook. So to find him standing not two feet away in her bedroom was surprising, to say the least.

            "Pha-... Danny?" Sam found her voice, though the name came out a bit higher pitched than she would have liked.

            The spook flinched slightly. "I prefer just being called Dan now."

            "Ur... right." Sam inched over to her bed, not that the extra distance would matter much if the ghost was there to inflict violence. "Dan... so... why are you here?"

            Dan frowned, biting his lip as he contemplated whatever thoughts had brought him there. He wasn't accustomed to _talking_ about problems; in the past he'd merely blown them up. As he'd expected, Sam had been startled and visibly worried about his presence; though the goth did an admirable job of maintaining outward calm.

            "I need..." He paused, running one hand through his flaming mane of hair. "... an outside opinion. I think."

            Initial worry gave way to eyebrows-raised curiosity. Dan had seemed pretty confident with himself when Sam had last seen him. Then again, knowing what she did about both _her_ Danny and about Vlad Masters, that arrogant confidence could very easily have been little more than a facade.

            "Okay. Have a seat." Sam sat cross-legged on the end of her oversized bed and gestured to the computer chair nearby. She was concerned to be dealing with the ghost one-on-one, but clearly Dan wanted to talk to her alone and alerting Danny about the situation probably wouldn't go over too well. Besides, he didn't seem to be hostile; if anything Dan's attitude seemed more pensive than arrogant or angry.

            "Thanks." The ghost slouched into the offered chair in a way that was eerily reminiscent of Danny's most listless pose; right elbow propped up on his leg and supporting his chin, the other arm draped carelessly across his lap.

            "So then." Sam quirked an eyebrow at Dan's posture. "What do you think y'need an opinion on?"

            "I'm not sure. I don't want to stay here." Dan began slowly, clearly contemplating how to give voice to his thoughts. "But I don't know where else to go."

            "There's FentonWorks?" Sam prompted, the comment earning a momentary glare from the ghost.

            "No!" Dan snapped, briefly shutting his eyes and forcing himself to cool back down. "I don't want to see him. Or them. It's... awkward."

            "Even after everything Jazz did for you?" Sam raised an eyebrow, starting to get some idea of what seemed to be troubling Danny's alternate future self.

            "I don't belong here." Dan finally retorted.

            Sam thought about that for a moment. That much was true enough; the ghost _belonged_ to a different timestream entirely, ten years from the present amid the apocalypse he'd caused. She noticed the familiar medallion hanging around Dan's neck, which implied to her that he could go back to that timeline if he tossed the trinket.

            "So if you don't want to be here, where do you want to be?" She finally asked.

            "That's a very good question." This time the tone and phrasing was a bit more reminiscent of Vlad, though the shrug that accompanied the statement still had 'Danny' written all over it.

            "Okay... if you don't know that, how about why don't you want to stick around here?" Sam shifted her position slightly as she waited for the reply. The goth already had a likely idea as to why Dan was uncomfortable in the present.

            "I just don't." Came the irate reply. "It's... awkward. There's nothing for me here."

            "And you don't want to go face up to the mess you made of your timeline?" Sam guessed.

            "There's nothing for me _there_ either." Dan glowered at Sam. "And an awful lot of ticked off people. You and Tucker included."

            "What?" Sam's eyebrows shot up at that in confusion. "But I thought we were-"

            "Dead, yes." Dan's tone had taken on a harsh edge. "And in the Ghost Zone, doing everything you could to stop me. Or at least to minimize the damage."

            That particular revelation rocked Sam back where she sat. It's not every day you get told that not only did you die horribly in an explosion, but that you ended up a ghost and active in some sort of undead resistance force. It was really rather creepy; and coming from _her_ , that was saying something.

            "Right. Don't hear something like that every day." Sam gathered her wits again. "But remember what Jazz said about change and all of that?"

            "Hmph. Easier said than done." Dan retorted. "If I go back, I'll never have any peace thanks to Valerie. She'd be the _last_ person willing to give a ghost half a chance."

            "And you'd be tempted to slide back into... ur... old habits?" Sam guessed.

            "To put it mildly, yes." Dan glared at nothing. "I may not want to destroy Amity Park any more, but I will _never_ forgive her. She deserves to suffer for what she did to me."

            Now _that_ sounded more like the psychotic ghost that Danny had confronted in that deranged timeline. Apparently not even Jazz's best efforts could entirely purge the ghost of his destructive urges toward the red-clad ghost hunter. Sam wondered just what Valerie had _done_ to make the usually forgiving Danny in that other timeline so angry at her.

            "Not that it's any of my business, but what _did_ she do to you?" Sam hazarded, recalling that particular bit of information hadn't been coaxed out of Phantom when Dan had been split in half by the Ghostcatcher. The goth was most curious to know, and the tall ghost seemed to be in a talkative mood.

            "I trusted her." Dan spat, not clarifying.

            _Trusted her?_ Sam wondered to herself, deciding against asking for further information. _I'm gonna guess he told her he was Danny Phantom. And that Valerie... well, was Valerie about it._

            "Well, it's a big world out there." Sam pointed out. "You might never even see her, let alone have to deal with her."

            "Fat lot of good that would do. No doubt she's in Amity Park wondering where I disappeared to." Dan looked away. "You saw it when you were there. The woman was off her nut and bent on revenge."

            _And that's unusual how?_ Sam noted sarcastically to herself. She didn't care for Valerie in this timeline; and from what she could gather from Dan's story, the huntress' alternate counterpart was no more forgiving.

            "Either way, when you left a few months ago..." Sam furrowed her brows in thought, recalling that frantic day. "You said you were going to find  your own future instead of live in the past. By sticking around, aren't you just _wallowing_ in it? Nothing's gonna change unless you _do_ something about it. And I don't think you want to hang around here being the odd ghost out."

            Her words struck a nerve, given that Dan visibly reeled back in the chair almost as though the goth had slapped him. Bold statements had helped knock some sense into the Phantom half of Dan back when he was split; maybe the ghost needed a similar smack of hard reality now.

            "What-" Dan started, sounding thoroughly indignant.

            "I'm sure Jazz has some fancy unpronounceable psycho-jargon word for it, but isn't that what you're doing?" Sam interrupted. "Running away from your problems? _Hiding_ in the past?"

            Dan's protest died amid flabbergasted spluttering.

            "And wouldn't it be a slap in Valerie's face if you showed up and did something productive?" Sam pressed the advantage. "You've had awhile since the stuff with the Ghostcatcher to get over all that, maybe it's about time to get _over_ it and go forward?"

            "Alright, I get it!" Dan finally got a word in edgewise. "Hmph. You're right, sticking around _here_ won't do anything."

            He stood up, fingering the medallion that he'd kept on him since he'd come back in time in that deranged attempt at ensuring that the timeline stayed as he remembered it. Going to Sam probably was the best choice after all. Sure, the goth was blunt, but she was honest and said what needed to be said. Jazz would have tried to play psychologist some more, when what he needed was a swift kick in the cape to do what he honestly ought to have done months ago. Just like he'd been doing for ten years prior, he'd been avoiding the problem.

            Sam jumped to her feet the instant she realized Dan was up and moving. "Whoa, right this instant?"

            Somehow she would have thought he'd have tried to put off departing for some reason.

            "Pheh, no time like the _present_ , is there?" Dan declared, oozing sarcasm as he yanked on the medallion, breaking the ribbon holding it around his throat. His expression softened just a bit as he took the two strides needed to cross the room to where Sam was standing.

            "What are you-" Sam backed up a step as the tall ghost leaned over, grinning with something not quite malevolent, but not exactly friendly either.

            "Thank you for your assistance." Dan declared in a low, almost ominous tone right by the goth's ear. "And since I doubt we'll meet again-"

            Sam's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when she felt cold lips brush ever-so-briefly against her cheek in the most fleeting of kisses. She felt her face turn red-hot with shocked embarrassment, and almost didn't hear the dull thunk of the medallion hitting the floor. By the time she had finished sputtering in shock, Dan was already gone.

            She sat down heavily on the floor, one hand going to her cheek. If that was how Danny's alternate future self apparently felt, what the heck did that mean about _her_ Danny?

\---

            "It was _your_ responsibility, Clockwork!"

            "Because of your negligence, the seal is broken!"

            Clockwork brushed off the frantic concerns of the two Observants who had come to his lair to verbally lay into him.

            "You know what will happen if he isn't stopped!"

            "There isn't a force in the human world _or_ the Ghost Zone that can stop his evil!"

            The Master of Time did not turn to address the two ghosts, his gaze fixed on the time viewer that dominated his lair. Scenes flashed across its surface: a deranged ghost on a deadly rampage; smoldering craters marking the ruins of civilization; a most desperate of battles to fix a mistake made years ago.

            "I know what I'm doing." Clockwork finally declared calmly, a stark contrast to the agitated Observants. "You know as well as I do that sealing him up like that wouldn't work in the long term."

            "Then perhaps you could share what you have in mind?" One of the two spooks asked dryly.

            "Or do you plan to go against our orders _again_?" The other demanded, irate.

            The Master of Time waved their concerns off, gesturing at the viewer with his staff. "My plan is already in motion and there is little anyone can do to change the outcome now but the players themselves."

            "What are you talking about?" The Observants demanded in stereo.

            "What I mean is that perhaps you should simply," Clockwork turned to face them now, a mysterious smile on his normally impassive face. "-sit back and _observe_ like you always do."

            The Master of Time floated away from the time viewer, the upset Observants following with demands for further information.

            Behind them, the viewer showed a single scene; its outcome heralding either the saving of the world, or the ending of it.


	2. Old Haunts Anew

**Old Haunts Anew**  
"I burned my hand, I cut my face  
Heaven knows how long it's been  
Since I've felt so out of place  
I'm wonderin' if I'll fit in"  
_-"Learning to Live Again" - Garth Brooks_ **  
**

            "What the-?"

            Unsurprisingly Dan found himself exactly where he'd been standing ten years ago. Well, floating rather, since the building that _had_ been the Mansons' mansion had long since collapsed. The tall ghost spent several minutes just studying his surroundings; for while the destruction he remembered so well was still clearly in evidence, quite a lot had changed in the time, probably about a year, that he'd been gone.

            He could see lights in the distance, a glow that lit the sky near the horizon. If Dan squinted, he was pretty sure he could make out new buildings. Not huts or the ramshackle little hideouts he'd uncovered during his fourth and final rampage in ruins of the city, but actual properly built structures. So somehow the humans had known he was gone and that they could come out of hiding. Dan frowned at that.

            _More of Clockwork's meddling, I'm sure._

            Much of the ghost's immediate surroundings were familiar enough that he didn't spare them much of a glance. Piles of debris, buildings pitched over sideways, the odd musty stink of rusting metal and rotted, moldy wood and concrete. It would probably take decades to clear all the rubble. Dan could more thoroughly appreciate the sheer amount of damage he had done; a veritable sea of debris from horizon to horizon, and all of it done by his hands. He only distantly recalled his high school education, but he couldn't think of any force out of the history books that could boast such a thorough job of razing a city to the ground.

            Of course, standing around admiring the scenery wasn't going to answer the question of "What now?" Dan needed to know how much had changed while he was away. He wasn't stupid; while charging right in to what appeared to be the new center of the city was what he _wanted_ to do, the ghost also knew that actually _doing_ so would be a most spectacularly bad idea. He would have to go quietly about gathering information. _Very_ quietly.

            Roaming invisibly would work for the most part, but Dan knew Valerie had equipment that could detect ghosts. It was safe to assume the rest of her little Patrol or whatever was left of it had similar gadgets. He would need to disguise himself if he wanted to get in among the city and find out what had happened in his absence.

            Dan slapped his forehead when it dawned on him the best way to build a plausible disguise. The outfit would be a dead giveaway however; so his first order of business in the city would have to be petty theft. Luck seemed to be with him for the moment; it was late evening and activity on the streets was extremely limited. He scouted the fringes of the new city, invisible and intangible, peering into houses and wondering why he wasn't finding any shops. Select pilfering from what seemed to be a well-stocked but presently vacant house and several nearby residences yielded a workable outfit, and the ghost retreated back into the wastelands with the loot.

            _I don't want to do this._ Dan groused to himself, hiding in the semi-privacy of a collapsed building. It was an ability that had proved useful in his insane attempt at making sure that alternate timeline went the way he felt it was supposed to; but it was uncomfortable to say the least. In the past, he'd described it to himself as putting on a costume that was poorly fitted. Poorly fitted or not, it was his best bet to wander freely in the city and talk to people without getting an ecto-grenade to the face.

            With a wordless grumble, the ghost concentrated, ignoring a brief chill as he felt the white rings scan over him from head to toe. The psuedo-transformation felt even more _wrong_ after the incident with the Ghostcatcher in the past, a fact he chalked up to being more 'in balance' as Clockwork had put it. Apparently that balance hadn't altered the appearance of his "human" guise one bit.

            "And after all of that, I still look like _this_?" Dan grumbled, tugging a lock of his now black hair down for a look. "Well, it will suffice."

            It took a long moment for the ghost to wriggle out of the jeans and t-shirt that had been his attire a decade ago, and he had to wrestle with the pilfered clothing for a few minutes to get into his new disguise. The black jeans were too long, so he rolled the cuffs up several inches. The shirt was baggy, so he tied the light jacket around his waist. A backwards ball cap and pair of sunglasses completed the look.

            _I must look like some kind of idiot dressed like this._

            Still, it meant people would see a high school kid dressed rather badly, and not the powerful ghost that they had learned to fear. Which meant he could wander the streets in broad daylight without causing a panic and revealing that he had returned. Dan was certain he was not ready to deal with that yet. No doubt he would have Valerie out for his head; he _was_ singlehandedly responsible for destroying the girl's hometown and killing her father Damon.

            The ghost spent the remainder of the night on the roof of one of the newer buildings, surveying the area. There was something funny about the newest buildings, and he couldn't put his finger on it. The new city seemed to be flourishing, but he knew that it should not have been so... lush. It reminded him of something he couldn't quite pin down, and he didn't like it.

            At daybreak, Dan descended to land in an alleyway, turning visible and strolling out onto the sidewalk with his hands stuffed in his pockets. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, he was better able to make out just _what_ was wrong with the city.

            Vines all over. Buildings that were somehow also trees. Plantlife everywhere, an array of greens and bursts of bright flowers. Dan knew his eyes were probably showing bright red behind his sunglasses as he spotted a familiar figure near the center of town. He very nearly threw caution to the wind and only barely restrained himself from transforming to normal and flying to confront it. Instead, the ghost spat a curse and started running.

            The fact he did pass people on the street; aware, uncontrolled people only slightly reassured Dan as he passed by. Of _course_ Undergrowth had never shown up in this timeline! Dan would have remembered having to vaporize something that big. The question now was how long had the oversized weed been in the city, and what was different in this timeline compared to the urban jungle the plant ghost had created in that alternate past?

            He pounded across a wide bridge, distantly realizing that the center of the city was almost completely surrounded by a small lake, and stopped up short. There was no doubt that this was the nerve center for the new city, with the slick buildings neatly labeled as the New Amity City Hall, hospital, Patrol headquarters, and a school. Along with a large, almost park-like garden in the middle of it, with the plant ghost its dominant feature.

            Closer inspection gave Dan pause. There was no doubt that it was Undergrowth, but the ghost's appearance wasn't like the one he'd fought with in the alternate past. Gone were the thorns and the scowling beak; instead the ghost had a relaxed, content posture and had a great deal of flowers for decoration.

            "Ah, out for a morning run?" The ghost spotted him and peered down.

            Dan was stopped dead and at a loss for how to respond. There wasn't a hostile rasp in Undergrowth's tone, and Dan wasn't quite sure how to react to the conversational inquiry. Hostility, he could handle. An attack, he could handle. Suspicion, he could handle.

            "It should be a nice day for it."

            Friendly conversation? He hadn't a clue how to handle that.

            Undergrowth apparently noticed Dan's silence, as he adjusted his size down to some six feet as opposed to sixty. "Never seen a ghost?"

            Dan shook himself from his momentary stupor. If the ghost wasn't attacking, then Undergrowth could be a valuable source of information. "Just.... moved here. So... no."

            "I thought I hadn't seen you before." Undergrowth nodded sagely. "Please, make yourself at home."

            Dan warily accepted a seat on a boulder. "I didn't know ghosts helped humans."

            That seemed to amuse the overgrown plant, because Undergrowth chuckled at the remark, thankfully missing the harshness of Dan's statement.

            "Most don't. But I reached a... beneficial compromise... with the humans in this city." Undergrowth gestured at the plant-shrouded buildings nearby. "They help my garden and my children thrive, and I assist them in rebuilding their metropolis."

            Dan personally thought that made more sense than the other-timeline Undergrowth's takeover attempt, but refrained from saying as much. "Instead of just taking over? I... ur... _heard_ that this entire place got flattened."

            Undergrowth coughed. "Ah, yes. The conditions made that approach... untenable."

            _So he did try to take over then._ Dan narrowed his eyes behind the sunglasses. "So what stopped you?"

            "You wouldn't know, having just moved here. It was a few months ago, and the winter weather made new growth all but impossible. The Patrol-" A quick gesture at one of the nearby buildings. "-put a quick end to my strength."

            _So Valerie and the rest fought him. Why didn't they finish him off?_

            "I... _heard_... that those guys don't let ghosts go." Dan fibbed. "That they'll tear them apart, molecule by molecule."

            Undergrowth nodded at that. "They could have. But their leader realized my powers, and we came to our agreement. It's far from perfect for me, you realize; but it is a lot better than I could do on my own. Ever since Phantom laid waste to this region and crippled the soil with his destruction."

            "Phantom, right." Dan slowly stated. "I've heard about him."

            "Yes, _that_ was a ghost you would want to avoid." Undergrowth hissed. "He is responsible for _that_!"

            Dan followed where the ghost was pointing, spying the wastelands in the distance. He didn't say anything, and nearly jumped sky high when a voice from behind startled him.

            "G'morning, Undergrowth!"

            Dan clenched his hands into fists, hidden away in his pockets. He knew that voice, he couldn't forget it if he wanted to. It took every ounce of restraint he had to turn around slowly, jaw clenched shut and red eyes thankfully hidden behind his sunglasses. It was a familiar sensation, the desire to kill; the urge to inflict hurt and pain, revenge. _Hate_.

            "Good morning, Valerie." Undergrowth responded as the huntress strolled by, jet sled tucked under one arm. "You've got morning patrol today?"

            "Yup." Valerie paused, glancing at Dan with a frown. "Do I know you?"

            Dan opened his mouth, about to say something sarcastic; something that would have utterly destroyed his cover and started a fight right then and there.

            "He just moved here." Undergrowth replied first.

            "Oh? Sorry then, you just reminded me of someone I knew." Valerie got a strange look on her face that Dan couldn't quite read.

            Then again, he was about ten seconds from trying to kill her.

            "Later!" Valerie hopped onto her sled and took to the air, and not a moment too soon.

            "That's Valerie." Undergrowth gestured at the departing huntress. "She's in charge of the Patrol."

            "I... need to go." Dan bit out, getting to his feet.

            "Oh, well take care-" Undergrowth glanced back, only to find Dan already gone.

            Dan transformed back to his real self, unable to take the disguise a moment longer as he shot through the ground toward the wastelands. Passing intangible through the ground did reveal where most of the people had been hiding during his last rampage however. He passed through several underground complexes, many with people still living in them. He'd never thought to look underground when he was trying to destroy the city.

            He kept on into the wastelands, stopping only when he came to a familiar bit of the wreckage; an area that was slightly better kept than the ruins around it, though it was well beyond the outermost perimeter of the new city's control. Dan scowled, landing near the battered buildings as he kicked the long-toppled Nasty Burger signpost. It wasn't a strong kick, so the sign only shifted slightly as he stalked past it and toward a monument he remembered far too well.

            Even listing badly to one side, the stone monument was taller than he was; the proof of his failure staring down at him from five pairs of stone eyes. Even in his madness, he'd actively avoided the location; it was likely the reason that one area was never as heavily razed as the rest of the city. There were signs that the new city had a presence in the graveyard; small flowering bushes planted near the graves in lieu of leaving cut flowers, which would probably have displeased Undergrowth, Dan thought. The area was far from the city center, but obviously the survivors had an interest in protecting it.

            "Pheh... maybe coming back here was a mistake." Dan growled into the wind, pacing before the monument. "There's less for me here than there was _there_."

            He knew the statue couldn't hear him, much less respond. The ghosts that Sam and Tucker had become were likely off in the Ghost Zone somewhere. The rest of the Fenton clan must have peacefully moved on, because Dan had never encountered them in the Ghost Zone; he somehow suspected he would have seen or heard _something_ had Jack ended up a permanent resident of the ghosts' world.

            "Why did I even come back here?" He paused, glaring up at the statue.

            _Because you can't stand to see_ him _and his happy life, you idiot._ Some annoyingly blunt part of his mind retorted. _Because he succeeded where_ you _have failed, he has everything_ you _can never have. And you would have driven yourself insane **again** if you'd stayed in that past. Seeing _ him _with Sam, and Jack with Mom. It was going to drive you nuts if  you didn't get away from that place._

            "And I'm going to accomplish _so_ much hiding out here." Dan growled to himself.

            That close encounter with Valerie had shaken him, and badly. Dan had thought he had better control of himself, yet that brief encounter proved otherwise. Had Undergrowth not spoken first, or had Valerie stuck around longer to chat up the leafy spook... he would have gone back to old habits in a heartbeat. He wasn't ready to face this world he'd created, but the fire-headed ghost had little choice. The time medallion was gone, and he sincerely doubted he could find Clockwork and badger the Master of Time into sending him back to the past.

            No, Dan was stuck in the mess of his own making, and he had to find some way to deal with it. He _could_ go back to old habits, the thrill of the chase, of trying to kill Valerie and destroying the painful reminders of his past. The thought of his conversation with Jazz in that past timeline made that option leave a foul taste.

>             " _Things_ can _change, Danny. You proved it not even an hour ago." She told half of him, while his older half was outside the car, speaking with his past self. " If you can come that far in just one day... Do you really want to cheat yourself out of a chance to do better?"_
> 
> _"But if it goes wrong-"_
> 
> _Jazz didn't give him a chance to finish. "What if it goes right? You're being too hard on yourself." She countered, voice full of the conviction she felt.  "You aren't what you were ten years ago when this all started. We're all here and safe, you're not the same upset teenager you used to be."_
> 
> _It was all he could do to stare in wordless shock at Jazz as she continued, driving the point home with impassioned confidence. That she felt so strongly about him and his well being, despite what he had tried to do to her, to everyone left him at a total loss._
> 
> _"You're a grown man, Danny." Jazz patted him on the shoulder. "Sure, you've had problems, but who hasn't? You can change, just today alone has proven that."_
> 
> _"Jazz..." He managed to squeak out, while his older half was telling his past self how to blackmail Vlad into letting the unresolved matter of the castle's destruction go._
> 
> _What Jazz said next shocked him to the core, and indeed, that was what convinced him to go through with it despite his dire reservations._
> 
> _"Whatever happens, I'm sure you'll do the right thing. I believe in you, and I'm proud of you. You just have to_ give _yourself a chance."_

            In a contrary sort of way, he didn't want to let her down; though Jazz would likely never learn the outcome of her persuasion and whether or not he reverted to old habits. It was simply the principle of the matter, he _wanted_ her to be right.

            "A chance. Now how do I get one of those?" Dan mused aloud, covering his current sense of confusion with the snarky attitude he'd mastered over the past decade.

            Sure, he could play the do-goodie of half of his past. That would be the "right" thing, after all. The idea didn't sit well with the ghost however. Playing the hero may have been part of his past, but he was no hero now. If anything, he had become the worst sort of villain possible, and he couldn't entirely blame Vlad for it, either. Plus Dan had no desire what-so-ever to help Valerie in any way, shape, or form.

            Sam had pointed out he didn't have to stay at Amity Park. There was an entire world out there, millions of places he could be where Valerie _wasn't_. Other cities, even other countries; heck, there was an entire alternate _reality_ of the Ghost Zone to explore. Which to him defeated the entire purpose of returning to his timeline, trading one form of exile for another. No, he was in Amity Park to stay, he just had to figure out what he was going to do with himself.

            Dan was violently rousted from his musings by a beam blast to the back that sent him sprawling in the dirt with a surprised yelp.

            " _You_?" He heard an angry female voice hiss with nothing short of pure rage behind him. "When did **_you_** come back, Phantom?"

            Dan spun around, mentally cursing himself for not paying enough attention, red eyes widening when he saw who was leveling a large ecto-cannon at his face.

            Paulina.


	3. Reap What You Sow

**Reap What You Sow**  
"Eternal silence cries out for justice  
Forgiveness is not for sale  
Nor is the will to forget"  
_-"Cry for the Moon" - Epica_

            Valerie expertly guided her jet sled into the second-floor launch deck of the Patrol headquarters, and in moments the huntress had the device stowed. She was in for lunch and a break; since she had taken the morning patrol, she had the afternoon off. Later she would take the evening patrol, but she wouldn't be on the graveyard shift until the following month when the schedules reversed.

            _It's not like we really need constant ghost patrols anymore though._ Valerie mused as she headed up to the fourth floor of the building; the officer apartments. _Since Phantom was locked up in that Fenton Thermos, we haven't had much in the way of ghost trouble._

            She idly wondered about that other timeline once in awhile. That other Danny had prevailed, or so Clockwork had told her. He had succeeded where she and dozens of others had failed; he'd fought Phantom, and _won_. He hadn't gone through the terror of loss that the Danny of her timeline had.

            Still, the circumstances of that timeline wouldn't change anything about _this_ one, and that was still the number one priority. The city had been fortunate to gain the assistance of the plant ghost Undergrowth; it was thanks to their agreement that the reconstruction was proceeding as rapidly as it was. Indeed, a lot had changed over the past year, in ways that she would never have thought possible.

            Humans were working _with_ some ghosts to the benefit of both. All thanks to the efforts of the Patrol in the real world; and the ghostly incarnations of Sam, Tucker, and Danny in the Ghost Zone. There were still plenty of ghosts that had no wish to accept any restrictions on their behavior, and these were quickly dealt with by the Patrol whenever they managed to sneak into the human world. Heck, even the government's own Guys in White team was taking its cues from the New Amity Park Ghost Patrol in the treatment of "ectoplasmic Americans."

            Valerie shut the door of her apartment behind her and put on a microwave sandwich to warm up. Something was bugging her, and the huntress simply could not put a finger on _what_. She had seen nothing unusual on her morning patrol, she'd only spoken briefly with Undergrowth on her way out on said Patrol...

            Who was that kid she'd seen chatting with the leafy ghost? That had to be it. The teenager looked oddly familiar, she was certain of that. The question was _why_? Who did that boy remind her of so much as to nag at the back of her mind all morning? Fully half his face had been obscured by large sunglasses, yet the memory of him looking at her from behind the tinted lenses made her blood run cold. She wasn't one to jump to conclusions, but Valerie also knew well to trust her gut feelings.

            Which were telling her on no uncertain terms that the kid was dangerous. _Extremely_ dangerous.

            _That makes absolutely no sense._ Valerie frowned in thought as she retrieved her lunch and plunked down on the small couch in the front room. _What could be so dangerous about a kid? One that's barely in high school, at that?_

Then again, a decade ago Danny Phantom was 'barely in high school' and capable of incredible feats with his powers. Valerie almost dropped her sandwich at the wild thought that hit her.

            _That can't be_ him _! He's gone, sealed up in that Thermos and in Clockwork's care. Phantom is **gone** , and he's never coming back!_

            It took the huntress several moments of deliberately pacing her breathing to calm down. The more she thought about it, the most she thought she recalled the resemblance between her memory of fourteen-year-old Danny Fenton and the kid she saw just hours ago. It couldn't have _been_ Danny himself. She knew the ghost of the teen's humanity personally, Danny's ghost no longer looked fourteen. Phantom, however...

>             _"Amusing."  He sneered, crossing his arms over the emblem on his chest, the insignia there now a mockery of everything he had once stood for. "I wonder, can you **really** shoot me, Valerie? Would you shoot your _ dea _r friend?"_
> 
> _"I wouldn't shoot my_ friend _. But that's not a problem." She growled in response, ignoring the pain from her broken ribs and her broken heart as she pointed her gun at him, at that face. At the boy that had once been her friend. "_ You're _not him."_
> 
> _Even injured as he was, he still managed to smirk at her as though he hadn't just had the green goo beaten out of him. "Are you so certain of that?"_
> 
> _She was close, so close to pulling the trigger and ending the nightmare. The grip of her gun was slippery from sweat, her white-knuckle hold on the weapon the only thing keeping it trained on the ghost boy. Then, right before her eyes, he_ changed _, the action a perfect reverse of what he had demonstrated just two weeks prior, when he told her he_ was _Danny Phantom and the bottom dropped out of her universe._
> 
> _"D-danny?" With a gasp she stammered out the name, stepping backward in surprise, her resolve quaking as much as her aim._
> 
> _"That's right..." He purred, taking a step forward to match her faltering one back. "You can't shoot little old me, right, Val? We're pals, aren't we?"_
> 
> _It was his eyes that did it._
> 
> _Had they been blue, or even glowing green, she would have relented and been unable to fight. Instead, they were brilliant red, twin pools of burning hate; a stare that made her blood run cold and gave her the strength to ignore her grief and pull the trigger._

            "No, you're just over reacting." Valerie said aloud, shaking her head as though the motion would dispel the unpleasant memory. "It was probably just some surly high school kid with a problem with authority. That's all."

            "Valerie, do you read me?"

            Her attention was instantly pulled to her wristband. Paulina was on patrol, and the Latina seldom contacted headquarters unless...

            .... Unless there was a problem. A _big_ one.

            "Val here. Wha-" Valerie was cut off by the enraged hiss from the other end of the conversation.

            " _He's_ back. At the Nasty Burger!"

            Valerie didn't even remember leaping from the couch, running down two flights of stairs and throwing herself out the second floor launch deck, the alarms blaring throughout the New City. She was in her apartment one moment, and the next she was tearing across the sky, rifle and autocannon powered on and ready.

            It was all too familiar a sensation, anger and fear all rolled up in a thick wrapping of pure hatred. If _he_ was back, she'd make sure he _wasn't_ for long.

\---

            In hindsight, the way Dan handled the Latina's presence wasn't one of his more brilliant moves. The smart thing to do would have been to turn intangible, turn invisible, and get the heck out of the area. Clearly, there was a lot of pent-up anger and that was not going to see or listen to reason. So what's an ex-psycho ghost to do?

            He tried to reason with her.

            "Paulina! I-"

            And got a mouthful of beam blast for his efforts, tumbling the ghost head over heels against a stray boulder.

            "We just got started over!" Paulina snarled, aiming the weapon for a second burst. "You aren't going to take it all away, not again!"

            Dan had to dodge a flurry of bazooka blasts that punctuated the statement. He was too surprised by the Latina's unexpected arrival to react properly; instead he was scurrying out of harm's way and trying to get a word in edgewise.

            "I don't-"

            Paulina snarled a curse and fired another round, the thing pulverizing what was left of the Nasty Burger signpost Dan had been standing in front of just a second prior.

            _This isn't going to get me anywhere._ Dan scowled to himself, dodging the ongoing assault. He was slightly surprised that it was easy to refrain from returning fire. Given how he'd reacted when he simply _saw_ Valerie, the ghost half-expected a similar burst of anger toward Paulina; especially given she was openly attacking him.

            Still, if he hoped to talk reason into the Latina, he needed enough of an opening in her barrage to complete a sentence. Given that she didn't seem inclined to leave such an opening, he would need to somehow make one. Meaning he would need to disarm the woman, and do so without accidentally hurting her. Easier said than done, Dan wasn't used to holding back in a fight and it was a given fact that Paulina would lash out.

            Instead of evading the next blast, the ghost duplicated himself; one copy going to the right, the other left around the bright beam. The tactic gave Paulina an extra target to shoot at; Dan's idea was to create a gap in her barrage long enough for at least _one_ of him to get a word in.

            "When the rest of the Patrol gets here, you'll _pay_ for what you did to Danny!" Paulina hissed, shooting a hole in the ghost's plan by pulling a second large gun out of her pack and adding a large beam cannon to the bazooka barrage.

            _The 'rest of the Patrol?'_ Dan pondered, scowling. _Then I don't have much time to reason with Paulina before_ she _gets here._

            Throwing caution and diplomacy to the wind, Dan let his duplicate take a hit and disappear, using the momentary pause to dash in and catch the Latina's wrists. He must have grabbed a little harder than he'd intended since Paulina yelped, her weapons falling from her grip as she tried to pull herself free.

            "Listen to me!" Dan shouted at the struggling woman. "I'm not going to-"

            "Let me _go_!" Paulina shrieked loud enough to make the ghost's ears ring from the volume and pitch, her left leg shooting out on a low trajectory.

            Dan barely had time to register that he thought he heard an echo, before something exploded against his backside and drove him forward and down onto the incoming kick. Then he was too busy registering nothing but blinding, searing _pain_ emanating from the point of impact to care about that. With a squeaky yelp the ghost released Paulina and fell over, curling onto his side in a futile attempt at trying to somehow lessen the discomfort from his groin.

            "I _said_ to let her go!" A familiar voice sounded from somewhere above, laden heavily with disgust and hate that was crystal clear even over the noise of jet sled engines.

            _So_ that _was the echo I heard._ Some coherent part of Dan's mind noted while he staggered painfully back to his feet to face the threat.

            "I swear I'm gonna rip you to little _pieces_ , Phantom!" Valerie snarled, catching him full in the face with a pink blast from her autocannon.

            Still reeling from Paulina's lucky shot, the blast sent Dan flying backwards. He was stopped by the Fenton monument, slamming into the back of the thing with enough force to pitch the large stone carving forward at an awkward angle. Cringing, he slid to the ground, leaving several new cracks in the weathered memorial.

            "You-" Dan hissed at Valerie, barely catching himself from acting on the instinctive desire to lash out at the huntress.

            He heard rather than saw the rest of the Patrol arriving shortly after Valerie. This was not going to end well if he stayed. If Paulina wouldn't let him explain himself, there was no way the rest of the Patrol would, let alone Valerie. Not that he wanted to explain a thing to the huntress. Sticking around was not going to help his case in the slightest.

            "How'd you get back here, Phantom?" Valerie snarled, glaring at him through the targeting scope of her gun.

            "Don't." Dan bit out. "Call. Me. That."

            It was a stupid thing to fixate on given the situation, but then it _was_ keeping with his current track record. Perhaps fixing his attention on the name thing was simply a way to fend off the temptation to simply toss the past several months right out the window. At that moment, reverting to old habits and blowing the lot of them away was sounding increasingly tempting.

            _I need to get out of here._

            "I'll call you whatever I want to, ghost." Valerie hissed, charging her gun.

            _I need to get away._

"I _have_ a name, thank you very much." Dan retorted, getting to his feet and slowly moving away from the memorial. "I would prefer you _use_ it."

            _I have to get away from here._

            "Yeah, whatever, Phantom!" Valerie opened fire, her blast missing the statue by just inches thanks to Dan's steady movement away from it. "All units, open fire!"

            _I have to get away from **her**._

            Dan finally snapped out of his stupor and hastily ripped open a portal to the Ghost Zone. He wasted no more time diving through the green tear that promised safety; the cacophony of weapons behind him sharply cut off as the gap closed behind him, replaced with blissful silence.

\---

            "He got away!" Valerie punched the unyielding stone memorial in frustration, pacing to and fro.

            _He's back._

            That ghost, that monster that was supposed to be beaten and never to return had done the impossible.

            _That murderer._

            Phantom was **back**. She'd seen it with her own eyes though she desperately wanted to disbelieve it. He _couldn't_ be back, not now; not when she and the rest of the city was finally moving past that ever-present fear of the past decade.

            _He's back._

            What would happen to the city now? They had no giant ghost shield yet to defend the New City; and he already had found a way to get past that long-defunct safeguard. Undergrowth likely would not stand a chance in a fight with the ghost; and though the huntress was loathe to admit it, the Patrol would not stand a chance even with their new weaponry.

            _That monster._

            Valerie felt her knees start to buckle and she sank to the ground, staring at the spot the ghost had just been standing at moments ago. Was it worth even _trying_ to fight anymore? They had all lost so much already, would fighting and trying to stop a seemingly unstoppable force be worth merely prolonging their misery until the inevitable?

            _Phantom is back._

            "Valerie!" Paulina slapped her superior officer across the face. "Snap out of it!"

            "Wha-" Valerie looked up at Paulina in a daze.

            "We have to tell the city." The Latina had a serious expression. "And start to figure out what to do about him. He was acting... odd... don't you think?"

            "Odd?" Valerie frowned.

            "He could have killed me before you and the others got here." Paulina noted. "But he didn't."

            Valerie climbed back to her feet, finally finding solace in a familiar emotion that had served as a bulwark against fear and uncertainty during the ghost's deadly rampages before. It was a spark that had rested dormant for the past year, dully smoldering. Anger. _Hate_.

            "He was just toying with you, I bet." Valerie spat, fueling that dim memory of her hatred with the fresh encounter, turning the old spark into a hot fire. "We don't know how long until he comes back. We've gotta prepare."

            "That's more like the Valerie I know." Paulina grinned, the expression without humor.

            It was an expression Valerie recalled all too well, that fake smile beneath eyes wide with terror.

>             _Somehow, they'd driven Phantom away a second time. A good third of the city lay in burning ruin around them, but they'd... they hadn't_ won _, but they hadn't_ lost _, and that was good enough for them._
> 
> _"Ohmigosh, Valerie, you did it!" Paulina nearly bowled her clean off her feet in an enthusiastic hug as the rest of the Patrol burst into hyperactive babble around her._
> 
> _"You guys did great!" Valerie thumped Paulina on the back, grinning like a maniac. "That last attack tore that spook a new one!"_
> 
> _"Awesome idea using two jet boards!"_
> 
> _"Yeah, we showed him!"_
> 
> _"Nothing could have survived that!"_
> 
> _"Did you see the look on his face when that hit him?"_
> 
> _And then came the laughter. That hollow, almost hysterical laughter. Half-crazed from fear, on the brink of tears at the horrible destruction. It was either laugh or scream, or worse break down entirely._
> 
> _So they laughed with the empty relief of survivors, the sound flat on the wind, lost amid the stomach-turning stench of the slaughter..._

            "Let's go." Valerie shook herself out of the memory, stopping dead as another thought hit her. "Danny-!"

            "Danny?" Paulina looked confused by the sudden panic on the huntress' face. "What abou-.... OH!"

            "Phantom's loose in the Ghost Zone." Valerie confirmed. "We've got to warn Sam and the others that he's back. **Now**."

            "You've got the funny ghost phone." Paulina noted as the massed Patrol started back to headquarters.

            Valerie already had the aforementioned device out and was punching in the number.

            "Come on, pick up- Sam!" Valerie clutched the special communicator to her ear. "Listen, it's an emergency!"

            "Whoa, Valerie?" The ghost goth's voice clearly conveyed a raised eyebrow. "What's with the panic, you sound like you saw-"

            "Sam?" Valerie frowned when she heard Sam gasp in shock, a loud clatter indicating that Sam had dropped the phone. "Sam? Say something!"

            The only answer was a shriek, the sound muffled by distance.

            " _YOU!_ "

\---

            Sam backed away from the door to the lair she shared with Danny; or rather the ghost of Danny's humanity. Unlike the flame-headed nightmare that was standing in the doorway with a surprised look on his fierce face; Danny's dead human self was exceedingly weak by ghostly standards. There was no telling what the nightmarish ghost would do when he saw Danny; after all, he'd been the one to kill the teen in a deranged sort of self-torture a decade ago when the troubles first began.

            "What are you doing here?" Sam managed to snap at the ghost, reaching the wall and hitting a button to sound the alarm.

            "This is _your_ -" Whatever Dan was about to say was cut off first by the blaring siren and then by a loud roar from the basement that rumbled the entire lair.

            Sam didn't seem fazed at all by the commotion, indeed she was almost grinning about it. The ground heaved, throwing Dan backward and out the door as the floor fractured, permitting two large figures access to the main room and the startled ghost.

            The first was familiar though he hadn't seen it in years. The large reptilian body was covered snout to tail with pale blue scales, topped with a pair of neon-green horns and ridges clear down its spine. A golden necklace hung clasped at the great dragon's throat, while thoroughly angry red eyes glowered at Dan above a mouth full of very sharp teeth.

            The second one _felt_ like it should have been familiar, though Dan couldn't quite place where he would have seen it. Sam gave a cheer when the behemoth came up from the lower level. Compared to the blue dragon, this one was far more impressive a specimen, scales shading from a brilliant red on its head to yellow on the underside of the neck and belly, then grey down its back, and finally pitch black on its body; the underpinnings of its wings reversing that shading from black to red. Like the blue one, this beast had neon-green horns, though in the form of a magnificent crest rather than a meager pair, matched by several spines sticking out of the dragon's tail.

            It was one thing to be generally known as the baddest, most deadly ghost in all of the Ghost Zone. It was quite another to look up and see two large somethings that seemed all teeth and claws charging with clearly unfriendly intent. Dan did what any reasonable person would do when confronted unexpectedly by such a sight.

            That is, he made all possible speed to get out of their way. He heard the jaws snapping shut right behind him, almost snagging his cape. A hasty duplication brought him out of the path of an immediate blast of green flames. The assault was too sudden, Dan didn't have enough time between attacks to decide if he wanted to blow the two beasts away or simply run.

            "We can't let him get at Sam!" The larger of the two dragons bellowed, the voice sounding familiar though Dan couldn't place it.

            "You attacked me, not the other way around!" Dan snarled back as his duplicate darted away from the smaller blue reptile.

            The two against one melee began to split into a pair of fights as one dragon each chased one copy of the fire-headed ghost. Dan planned it that way, leading the two dragon ghosts far enough apart that they couldn't help each other. Now if he could just try and talk to Sam...

            That alone would be tricky. It had been over ten years since he'd spoken with Sam. Dan had to keep in mind that this Sam was not the one that had helped him through his madness; had helped him come to the decision to return to this accursed timeline. This was the Sam that had apparently watched helplessly as he tore his humanity apart; she had seen the slaughter he was responsible for as it occurred.

            It probably wasn't a stretch of the imagination to assume that this Sam hated him; hated him for his actions with a vehemence only slightly less than that of Valerie.

            Dan led the two ghost dragons further away, using the confusion of the melee to cover the manifestation of a third duplicate. If he could get a few words in edgewise without the beasts breathing down his neck, perhaps he could make some progress. While his other two copies led the dragons on a wild chase, the third made an invisible beeline for the ghost goth's lair.

            Sam wasn't alone.


	4. Imperfect Reflections

**Imperfect Reflections**  
"All that you’ve taken from others  
Will be taken from you  
All that your dissonance smothers  
Will then come back to you  
Whatever happens tomorrow, and whatever you do  
Just keep in mind, that the source and end is you"  
_-"Another Me" - Epica_ **  
**

            There was someone else standing next to Sam, casting worried glances in the direction of the now-distant dragons. The ambient lighting of the Ghost Zone struck glimmers of silver from the mop of otherwise black hair, and cast soft shadowing on his jeans and t-shirt. That wasn't what stopped Dan dead. It was the eyes.

            Blue, glowing blue.

>             **_You!_**
> 
> _He spun around, cape billowing as he prepared to blast whoever had thought to sneak up on him while he was preoccupied with the crude grave. Much to his surprise, there was nothing behind him. No one._
> 
> _"Show yourself so I can waste you." He growled, letting the green blast dissipate, unused._
> 
> _**I'm right here.**_
> 
> _Half-frantic at the mysterious voice he thought he heard, he spun again, checking the gravesite. Nothing there. He checked behind the rock formation. Nothing there. He peered cautiously between the trees surrounding the small clearing. Nothing there._
> 
> _"Right_ where _?" He snarled, unable to bear that terrible silence save for the fury of the brewing storm that threatened overhead._
> 
> _**Right in front of you, you monster.**_
> 
> _His gaze was almost forcibly drawn once again to the grave, the resting place of his weakness, of the humanity he had purged so ruthlessly years ago._
> 
> _"Great, I'm hearing things." He muttered, trying to convince himself that there was nothing there._
> 
> _**No, you're not.**_
> 
> _That stopped him up short as he stared at the grave, still seeing nothing, but certain now there was_ something _there. "Right, if I'm not, who are you and where are you? I haven't blasted anyone today."_
> 
> _**You know who I am, and you can't just blast me. Not yet.**_
> 
> _Somehow, the non-voice managed to be melancholy and accusing all at once. It set his teeth grinding, the mere thought that his_ weakness _still seemed to exist in some form or another. His ghost sense hadn't gone off, which implied that the owner of the voice wasn't a ghost. Or at least, wasn't manifested as one yet._
> 
> _"Maybe I should just blast_ this _instead?" He raised his hand, green energy crackling around it, aimed at the pile of rocks that served as Danny Fenton's grave._
> 
> _**It won't do you any good. I'll still be here. You can't get rid of me.**_
> 
> _There was something... almost smug about the non-voice's tone that would normally have set him to blasting anything nearby. Instead he let his arm drop back to his side._
> 
> _"What are_ you _still doing here?" He snarled finally._
> 
> _**Waiting.**_
> 
> _"For_ what _?"_
> 
> _**For her to stop you.**_
> 
> _"Are you talking about that witch who betrayed us_ both _?" He hissed, both hands curling into fists tight enough to have drawn blood had he still been human. "You're here cheering for_ her _, after she tried to kill you? After she tried to shoot you after we_ trusted _her?"_
> 
> _**She didn't betray me.**_
> 
> _The situation was stupid and he knew it was. Arguing with a pile of rocks! He kept up the argument for a little while longer until the non-conversation became too much to bear._
> 
> _"Right. I don't have time for blathering at nothing. That cheesehead has got to be somewhere. I need to tear_ him _to pieces."_
> 
> _**Go ahead,** r **un away.** The voice taunted as he turned to leave, laden with accusation and scorn. **Isn't that what you've been doing all these years since the explosion? Running away?**_

Well, he'd finally _quit_ running away, and it hadn't done Dan much good. The shock of seeing _him_ , now manifest as a complete ghost startled the spook badly enough that he forgot to keep himself invisible, reappearing several feet away from the pair.

            "You-!"

            Sam yelped, surprised by his sudden reappearance. Her partner raised an eyebrow, apparently surprised as well but not as prone to jumping.

            "What do you want?" He declared softly, stepping in front of Sam, steely blue eyes staring at Dan with almost piercing clarity.

            It was ridiculous. Dan knew the black haired ghost in front of him couldn't possibly stand a chance in anything close to a fight. It had taken Danny Fenton almost a decade just to manifest as a ghost; he had to be weak as an infant! Yet the slender ghost had placed himself between Dan and Sam, and had the gall to glare defiance? His _weakness_ , that he had taken such delight in ripping apart ten years ago thought to defy _him_?

            _Stop that!_ Dan growled at himself. _You know better now. You should, at least._

            The awkward silence dragged on for several seconds, neither party quite sure what to do next. Dan tried to match glares with Danny, red versus blue before Dan finally spoke.

            "You do _realize_ -" Dan couldn't keep the all of the smug sarcasm out of his tone. "-that if I was here for a fight, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. It would already be _over_."

            "I won't let you hurt anybody else." Danny replied softly, almost uncertain. Obviously he was aware that if it did come to a fight, it would not end in his favor. "Not after what you did."

            "Danny..." Sam put a hand on his shoulder, clearly worried. "You don't have to do this, it's not your-"

            "It is my fault." Danny replied, a trace of anger finally seeping into the slender ghost's tone. "And it's my responsibility. I won't let him hurt anybody else."

            Dan mentally gagged at the useless heroics. Sure, he blamed himself for what had happened. It _was_ his... or rather _their_... fault. Danny Fenton had cheated on the test. Their friends and family died as a result. Torn apart by the grief, they had agreed to Vlad's crazy idea.

            They, they they. Plural. He and his _weakness_.

            "Oh, _do_ put a lid on it." Dan finally snapped, breaking off his end of the stare down by turning away from the pair. "I don't have time to waste listening to your prattle."

            It was cowardly. He _knew_ it was cowardly. But running seemed to be the best option for the time being. If he stayed, Dan wasn't sure what would happen; or how he would react. Seeing Valerie had aroused rage. Seeing Paulina had left him reeling with confusion and something not entirely unlike loss. Seeing Sam awakened an ache of loss he had thought himself incapable of feeling for the past decade; one those _human_ emotions he used to think had been purged the day he tore Danny Fenton apart.

            Seeing Danny Fenton himself... Dan wasn't sure how to feel or react. He had killed the boy, murdered him in a manner so horrible that looking back even _he_ had to cringe. Out of all the murders he was responsible for, it was his very first that was also his most vicious. Sure, the slaughter of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands was on his head; however they hadn't been so... personal. They had died in ways horrible and violent, energy blasts that left little but ash, tons of debris that left only mangled corpses, plunges from vast heights ending in a red spray on the ground below; but Danny was the only one that Dan had killed with his own hands. Slowly. Very slowly.

            Not even Valerie would have had such a vicious demise had he gotten his hands on her.

            _You can't bear to face what you **were** , you fool._ Part of his mind whispered traitorously. Dan ignored the nagging doubt and took off, letting his two duplicates that had been distracting the dragons disappear abruptly. Thankfully, none of them tried to pursue him as he disappeared into the distance for parts unknown.

            "... Danny?" Sam glanced at her friend once the threat had vanished.

            "I..." Danny's expression softened, turning from defiant to a sheepish grin. "... Wow, Sam, I thought I was a goner for a minute there. Again."

            "You and me both!" Sam wavered between wanting to swat Danny or hug him out of relief. "I hope the others are okay."

            Shortly afterward, the two dragons came back into view, both apparently unharmed. The blue one glowed briefly, shifting down to the more recognizable (and less intimidating) form of Dora Mattingly. Her partner remained in dragon form, casting a worried glance in the direction Dan had gone.

            "You two okay?" Danny asked, quirking an eyebrow at his other two friends.

            "Fortunately, he wasn't able to get a single attack in." Dora grinned briefly. "However we weren't able to hit him, either."

            "I dunno." Her partner rumbled. "I don't think he was even _trying_. I mean seriously, we've all seen what the guy can do. He only split himself twice-"

            "Three times." Sam interrupted.

            "Whoa, wait! _Three_?" It would have been amusing to see such an imposing dragon yelp and jump in surprise were such antics not already expected of Dora's royal husband. "Sam, Danny, he came here? Are you guys okay?"

            "He didn't attack." Danny replied with a frown. "Something weird is going on here."

            "Come to think of it, Valerie called right before he showed up." Sam cringed. "We better find out how the Patrol is faring. If he was in Amity Park first..."

            The goth ghost didn't finish the statement, nor did she really need to. After all, for ten years Amity Park had been the primary target of Phantom's rage. The wasteland that surround the new city from one horizon to the other was the proof of the fire-headed spook's terrible ambition and frightful power.

            "Okay." The multi-hued dragon bobbed his head once, apparently coming to a decision. "You wanna find out how Val and the others are doing, while I chase after _him_?"

            "You sure that's a a good idea?" Danny's frown deepened. "Maybe I should go after-"

            "Dude, don't worry." The drake cut the slender ghost off. "I can go after him faster, and if he goes nuts I've got a better chance of getting away than you do."

            "But-"

            "Danny, don't forget what he did to you." The behemoth's tone took on a surprisingly bitter note. "We couldn't help you out then, but we can now. Relax Danny, it's our turn to play hero."

            "He's right, Danny. C'mon, let's head for the portal." Sam nudged her reluctant friend back toward their mutual lair and its portal.

            "Okay!" The dragon flashed a toothy grin. "While you guys do that, and I'm tailing _him_... Sweetie, could you head back to the castle and... uh... do that royal alert the guards thing?"

            Dora chuckled and floated into the air. "You mean prepare the royal army for battle? Of course, so long as you promise to be more careful than my brother was in dealing with that demon. Just because you inherited his amulet as the heir to the throne doesn't make you invincible!"

            The dragon snickered nervously as Dora floated up to his face and planted a light kiss on his large cheek. "No kidding. Don't worry, even he'll have a hard time catching this fine sample sovereign masculinity!"

            With that, the dragon took off, rapidly shrinking into the distance while his friends and wife rolled their eyes at the slightly misplaced machismo. Sam went back inside while Dora took off for the castle, leaving Danny alone briefly. He stared off in the direction Dan had gone, frowning.

            He should be angry. After all, he had died an extremely hideous death at the hands of that ghost. The destruction of his hometown had been the spook's driving ambition for ten years. No one knew exactly how many people had been killed, how many ghosts reduced to oblivion by the madman. Then he had learned as had everyone else that some other him; from the past, ten years ago had ended up taking that monster back in time by accident, and succeeding where everyone had failed. His deranged ghost half had been _beaten_ , trapped outside of time and never to return.

            Danny knew he should have been furious. He should have hated the fire-headed spook, been thirsty for revenge.

            _If I was, I would be no better than_ him _. And.... I was the one the agreed to Vlad's idea. I cheated on that test that got everyone killed._

            It was bitter, but it was the truth he had come to accept over the past decade. Danny had taken an unusually long time to manifest as a ghost, he knew that. Almost ten years spent bound to that lonely spot of land in Wisconsin, all alone. Not even Sam or Tucker had thought he would ever appear again, otherwise they would have visited often. He didn't blame them though, who would have thought that the deceased spirit of Danny Fenton's humanity would become a ghost while Danny _Phantom_ was busy wrecking havoc in Amity Park?

            And... Valerie had come. Not often, since at the time she was responsible for leading the defense of Amity Park, but she'd come. He would never forget the day she found out what had really happened, when he'd watched helpless as the huntress shed bitter tears over his grave. Maybe if he'd been smarter, he would have waited a few days before skipping town years ago. Maybe none of this would have happened.

            _That doesn't change the fact it_ did _happen, or that_ he's _back._ Danny chided himself as he turned to follow after Sam. _Right now we have to figure out what to do._

\---

            Dan didn't particularly care where he was running, so long as it put distance between him and.... _him_. Well, and Sam. And Valerie. And everyone else so far that had reasonably assumed his return meant a fresh rampage in what remained of Amity Park. Their 'greeting' made that option sound disgustingly appealing. How was he supposed to change for the better when nobody seemed willing to give him half a chance?

            _Pheh, you blew it this time._ He growled to himself, finding a clump of boulders floating in the void to land on for some high-quality sulking. _You didn't belong in that other timeline, but you don't seem to belong here, either._

            A few minutes later and he heard footsteps behind him. He didn't bother turning to see who it was. Dan figured any moment now there would be a useless attack, and then either a fight or another retreat. A few minutes passed in silence; perhaps his would-be attacker was hesitating or hoping to surprise him?

            "Are you going to attack or just stand there?" Dan finally snapped at whoever was behind him.

            "I thought attacking people was _your_ thing." A familiar voice retorted. "But now I'm not so sure."

            The voice surprised Dan enough to spin around with a barely audible gasp. The voice was familiar, though it had been in that other timeline when he'd last heard it. The figure standing behind him and staring warily was also familiar.

            "...Tucker?" Dan found his voice, really unsure what to do now and settling for getting a good look at the ghost that had in life been his best friend.

            Apparently being a ghost had been good for the techno-geek. Tucker's complexion had gone a dull green from its original brown, and he was dressed rather oddly. The red beret and geeky glasses were still there, however the rest of his garb looked something like an electronics store and a Renaissance Faire had been thrown into a blender; elegant yet efficient robes in yellow and grey. He also carried himself now with a confidence that seemed far more legitimate than it had been years ago.

            "You know it." Tucker crossed his arms, eyeing Dan the way one might watch an unfamiliar dog.

            "What are _you_ doing here?" Dan growled, not moving from his seat. So far the geeky ghost hadn't made any overtly hostile motions, and he was curious as to what would have brought Tucker in pursuit.

            "Followin' you." One eyebrow was raised, indicating something had stumped Tucker.

            "Looking for a fight?" Dan growled, green energy lighting up his clenched fist.

            "Dude, I'm wondering why you _haven't_." The geeky ghost finally blurted, backing away at the thinly veiled implication of violence. "Sam and Danny might not have noticed, but _I_ did."

            Dan narrowed his eyes and launched his blast, the detonation of a nearby boulder startling Tucker into a loud yelp.

            "And just what do you think you _noticed_ , hm?" Dan growled.

            _You're being an idiot. You've got the attention of someone and he's **not** trying to attack or anything. So stop trying to drive him off with the bad attitude you fool._ He mentally chastised himself and took a deep breath and tried to collect his thoughts.

            "I mean..." He began a second time, trying not to snarl the words out. "So finally someone's been observant enough to notice I haven't fired a single blast since I returned to this time?"

            Tucker didn't respond immediately, and instead pointed at the cloud of debris from the detonated boulder. Dan nearly fell over.

            "Okay, besides that one!" He snapped. "What's it matter to you?"

            "Well!" Tucker puffed up with pride. "As the current king of the Mattingly estate and titular leader of the civilized portions of the Ghost Zone-"

            "King and _what_ -?" It was Dan's turn to jump at that tidbit of news, gawking at the shorter ghost.

            "Hello!" Tucker held up an amulet that was hanging around his neck. "Cursed amulet? Dora and I are only the most famous couple in the entire Ghost Zone!"

            It took Dan several seconds of open-mouthed gaping to process that. The amulet meant something... _Wait, that other dragon-!_   Tucker, a king. That meant he wasn't just dating Dora Mattingly. That meant something else entirely, and Dan wasn't sure he wanted to think about it, but...

            "You're _married?_ " Dan blurted out, one word going through his mind at the same time. **_EW!_**

            "So, it's obvious why it matters what you're doing." Tucker ignored the outburst. "Especially with your... uh... track record."

            Dan's expression soured instantly. "That's not what I want any more."

            Despite the fire-headed ghost's stony expression, Tucker couldn't help but gawk at that declaration. It was known throughout the Ghost Zone that this particular ghost was nothing but an insane madman, a genocidal maniac with thought only for how he would slaughter his next victim. At least, that had been the general belief as the years rolled by and the body count tallied higher and higher. Was it actually possible there was more to the single most feared ghost in the world than just the hate and destruction he'd terrorized everyone with for the past decade?

            "It's... not?" Tucker managed to squeak out around his surprise.

            "No, it's not." Dan repeated with visible annoyance. "Things... happened."

            Tucker mentally heaved a sigh of relief. It was one thing to make pretty speeches and bold statements about waging an epic battle against a powerful foe. Still, and he was fairly certain the thought had gone through the heads of anyone that had encountered Dan thus far; it was another entirely to try and fight something you had no hope of overpowering. The strongest forces in both the human world and the Ghost Zone had thrown themselves against Phantom's strength; and had been torn to bits. What more could anyone have done to stop the ghost?

            _If he's not out to kill everybody... then what is he gonna do?_ Tucker frowned, deciding the situation was under control enough to pry for further information. "So, uh, Phantom-"

            "Don't call me that." Dan snapped.

            "Yipe-!" Tucker backed away from the irritable ghost. "Okay, don't shoot!"

            Dan snorted at the display. "I'm not going to."

            The silence that followed was decidedly awkward. On one hand, Tucker could understand where Sam and Valerie and Paulina were all coming from in regards to the fire-headed spook. He'd taken so much from everyone, there was no room for forgiveness. On the other hand, what sort of retribution _could_ anyone demand? They had no means to forcibly extract it, and doing so wouldn't undo the years of slaughter.

            And perhaps... there was something else.

            Once Danny had manifested as a ghost, something hadn't felt quite right. Tucker didn't think Sam had noticed it, being so emotionally tied up with him. Neither had Valerie, driven as she was by her hatred for Pha-... for the ghost after what he'd done to her father and the city; especially after she'd learned the truth of what had happened to Danny. No, they would ever only see the bloodthirsty psychopath, they would never really see how it had changed the Danny they all knew. It was all black and white to them; Danny was Danny, Pha-... the ghost wasn't. Simple as that.

            But Tucker knew better, he knew it wasn't so simple. He was likely the only one who ever acknowledged that the fire-headed spook was, whether they liked it or not, at least partly Danny. A Danny warped and twisted by grief and Vlad's 'contribution' almost beyond recognition, but there was some part of him that _had_ been their friend. Perhaps he could see the situation more clearly, his perceptions unclouded by the romantic notions the girls both had. Perhaps his experience as a responsible leader during the rampages and subsequently organizing relations between the real world and the Ghost Zone had granted him a greater degree of maturity. In any event, he had noticed things, but elected to remain silent on them.

 _Their_ Danny was generally far quieter than he had ever been in life. He was usually timid, and there was always an air of despairing melancholy that hung about when he was near. Sure, Danny could still drum up some of that steely determination he'd had back in his ghost fighting days, but such instances were rare; he would still laugh at silly jokes, but the smile and laughter never reached his eyes. He never seemed entirely depressed or anything, just... flat. It was as if a part of him had been ripped out, leaving only part of the whole picture.

            Which, of course, it had been. And now that part was standing in front of him, shoulders slouched and a look of awkward confusion that took Tucker right back to their days at Casper High. Something would have to give, and lashing out at the ghost wasn't going to help encourage him to stick to whatever had changed his mind while he was away. If he no longer _wanted_ to lash out at everything and everyone, he clearly wouldn't be able to do so by himself. Certainly not with everyone he'd encountered so far trying to attack him.

            To Tucker, the crowned King of the Mattingly castle and de facto leading figure in charge of real world-Ghost Zone relations, encouraging a non-aggressive demeanor was the only viable option for dealing with the spook. He knew they couldn't best the ghost in a fight if it came to that; and if they couldn't stop the destruction by means of brute force, they had to find an alternative.

            _Sam's never going to agree to that._ Tucker groaned to himself. _Neither is Danny. Valerie would just as soon try to blow him to bits even though none of her weapons would even scratch him! I'll talk to Dora later about it, but right now..._

            Right now, if anyone was going to take steps to encourage the ghost's apparent change in priorities and prevent a new unstoppable rampage, it was going to have to be Tucker.

            "Okay..." He began hesitantly. "Y'don't like being called Phantom, point taken. Call it a hunch, I don't think you want to be called Danny either."

            "No, I don't." Came the wary response.

            _So what **does** he want to be called then?_ Tucker groused to himself when a clarification didn't seem to be forthcoming. "So then, mind telling me what you'd prefer being called?"

            That seemed to bring the spook up short as he looked down at Tucker incredulously, clearly not having expected the question. "What?"

            "Your name, dude. I can't just shout 'Hey, you!' can I? Y'know, introductions? Here, I'll start." Tucker adjusted his beret and stood straighter, offering one hand as though for a handshake. "The name's Tucker Foley, king of the Mattingly estate and primary liason between the real world and the Ghost Zone. And you are-?"

            Dan stared at him as if he'd just spoken a foreign language. It was utterly absurd, and he knew it. Still, absurd was a vast improvement over outright hostility. He could tell that Tucker was still wary, and rightfully so; but for whatever reason the geeky ghost had determined it was worthwhile to talk first. Certainly he had to realize that a fight was a waste of effort at best, suicide at worst.

            "Dan." He finally replied, cautiously accepting the handshake; remembering not to grip _too_ tightly. "Dan Plasmius."


	5. Friendship

**Friendship**  
"Falling and crawling  
A fight to stand up  
Memory still haunts me  
In the dead of night"  
_-"Overcome" - Within Temptation_

"Clockwork, this is your responsibility!" Several dozen Observants were gathered in the Master of Time's lair, each in a state best described as extremely agitated.

            "Something must be done before it's too late!"

            "Why have you done nothing to stop this?"

            "If nothing is done, he will destroy us all!"

            "You had to know this would happen!"

            "You swore you would not let this happen!"

            "Yet we are running out of time, and you choose to sit back and merely _watch_ as our doom is unleashed?!"

            Clockwork appeared completely unfazed, though the cacophony of protests drowned out even the steady ticking of clocks that usually dominated his lair.

            "Time?" He looked calmly at the last to speak. "I have nothing but time. My part has been done for some _time_ now."

            The remark might not have been intended as flippant, but that was apparently how the gathered ghosts interpreted it. The babble picked up again, louder and more strained than before. Clockwork hid a smile, shifting to his grizzled older form; it had been ages since he'd last seen the usually calm Observants in such a tizzy.

            "What part is that?"

            "You have done nothing! We would have seen it!"

            "There is nothing in place to halt him and all his terrible power!"

            "Nothing at all!"

            Clockwork merely raised his distinctive staff to silence the crowd; one by one they fell silent, turning one-eyed glares on the Master of Time. Ah, how proud the Observants were of their role as protectors of the natural order and observers of events! So proud, and yet so very blinded by that pride; preventing them from ever seeing the whole picture. They were quibbling over the qualities of the threads, and failing to pay heed to the intricate weaving of the complete tapestry, the whole picture.

            "I have expected this situation since he was first sealed." The ghostly timekeeper stated simply. "And I have already set plans in motion that may resolve it."

            "May? That is not sufficient, Clockwork!" The apparent leader of the one-eyed mob spoke up before a general murmuring could get underway again. "We must eliminate _any_ uncertainty about this situation. If he were to rampage freely again, the results would be disastrous! Surely you recall the damage he did the _last_ time."

            The Master of Time nodded, shifting to his younger appearance as he did so. "I am probably the only one that truly recalls that disaster and all of its implications. The solution is not as simple as you think it is."

            "Then why will you not act?"

            Clockwork shifted once more to his adult form and gave the Observant a stony glare. "What would you have me do? Go back in time, before he was sealed... and then what?"

            "You are the master of time, Clockwork!" The ghost responded, a slight hesitation in his voice. "Surely there is something you could manipulate, some paradox to _cheat_ , so that this problem will never happen!"

            Clockwork said nothing, merely leveled that glare at the crowd. It was rare for the Master of Time to show such outright displeasure; often his thoughts and feelings on a situation were hidden behind a calm and collected facade. He was annoyed, but then the Observants and their demands that he meddle because they would not were a familiar nuisance. The scope of his scheme was far beyond their inadequate tunnel-vision, and the ghostly timekeeper had no intentions of divulging his plan just yet.

            "And who's to say that I haven't already done just that?" Clockwork replied with a wry smirk.

\---

            "So nobody in the Ghost Zone has seen him either?" Valerie leaned back in her seat with a thoughtful frown. "He's just... vanished?"

            "Seems like it, Val." Tucker nodded, the geek ghost floating in front of the meeting table opposite the huntress. "None of the scouts we've sent have seen or heard a thing."

            "I don't like it." Valerie crossed her arms, tipping her chair backward slightly with a creak of protest from the plastic seat. "He's back. We've all seen him once, but now it's like he's disappeared entirely."

            "Maybe... he won't be back?" Tucker ventured.

            The look Valerie gave him clearly told the ghost how likely she thought _that_ was. He couldn't blame the huntress however. Every time Phantom appeared in the past, it was to wreck havoc. He only ever 'vanished' when thwarted; and only then to recover and return more powerful than before. To the huntress, it was clear that there could be no deviation from that pattern.

            "We've kept the news from the public right now." Valerie's frown deepened. "I don't like hiding something this important from the city, but-"

            "There'd be mass panic if they knew." Tucker agreed. "And there's no real threat from him yet, since nobody can _find_ him."

            "In any case, the Patrol is running at full alert. I've had the patrol schedules doubled and we're running regular evacuation drills... just in case." Valerie counted off the preparations that had been underway in response to the fire-headed ghost's apparent return.

            "Not much else anybody can do." Tucker mused. "Until we know where he is and what he's going to do."

            "Yeah." The huntress sighed. "Well, I'll keep in touch."

            "Same here. Catch ya later!" The ghost excused himself and sank through the meeting room floor to the lab below.

            Valerie drummed her fingers against the meeting room table in thought. It was the not _knowing_ where Phantom was that had her nerves grated raw. It was a tension that ran rampant throughout the entire Patrol in the form of shortened tempers and worried glances. The population had to know _something_ was up, just from the constant patrols and the regular drills; not to mention the worried faces of Patrol members.

            The waiting was the worst. An attack, she could deal with. She would know exactly what was going on and what she needed to do. In her mind it was a forgone conclusion there _would_ be an attack; the huntress simply did not know when it would come or where it would strike.

            Something had to give; otherwise all the tension was going to drive _her_ insane.

\---

            Tucker ducked through the portal after briefly exchanging greetings with the posted guard. He didn't _lie_ to Valerie, not exactly; but the royal geek didn't like having to keep a secret from the Patrol commander. The _scouts_ had not seen Dan. He made sure of that; Tucker had told the fearsome specter where they would be so he could evade detection. He didn't like the deception, but it was for the best; nor was it a decision the geek ghost had come to lightly.

>             _"And I want to try talking with him." Tucker finished his explanation, pacing the stone floor of the chamber. "What do you think, Dora? Am I just being an idiot?"_
> 
> _His wife stood silently in thought for several moments as she considered what Tucker had just finished telling her. It had taken a year or so and a great deal of coaching from Sam to put the princess at ease expressing_ her _opinions rather than parroting what she thought someone wanted to hear. Once she had shed the submissiveness that had been reinforced for centuries by her brother Aragon, the dragon princess had proven to be an independent, intelligent woman and a wonderful partner. Tucker trusted Dora's opinion, perhaps more now than he trusted Sam, or even Danny. Relationships were just like that._
> 
> _"It's not a bad idea." Dora finally spoke, her head tipped to one side as she mused on the situation. "We already know that we can't simply fight him and accomplish anything. It's still dangerous, perhaps we should both go?"_
> 
> _Tucker adjusted his glasses and considered that. He would certainly feel better about meeting with Dan a second time with Dora at his side. Somehow though, the geek ghost knew that Dora's presence would likely not be welcome; at least not at this stage. For whatever reason, the fire-headed ghost had gotten control of his explosive temper and decided to trust Tucker; the royal geek knew better than to push that fragile faith too far._
> 
> _"Nah. I appreciate the offer, sweetie. But the castle guards and servants would notice something weird going on if we both leave without saying anything." Tucker mused. "And that'd just mean gossip, which could get back..."_
> 
> _"And we don't want the Amity Park Ghost Patrol catching wind of it." Dora finished the thought with a nod. "I'm sure you'll be careful, and it's not idiocy to find a solution to a difficult problem. It's risky, but I don't think there are any better options."_
> 
> _"Yeah." Tucker agreed. "We can still send scouts to look for him, otherwise Sam or Danny would probably notice we aren't doing anything. When I meet up with Ph-... I mean, Dan, I can tell him where our guys are so he can just avoid them."_
> 
> _"Hopefully then, that is what he'll do." Dora gave her husband a level look. "Rather than decide to destroy them."_

Well, a few weeks and no vaporized minions later, it was clear that Dan had no problem simply avoiding the patrols that were supposed to be looking for him. Dora's apprehension about Tucker's secret meetings had tapered off as no harm came to him; and even Tucker slowly found himself more at ease in the ghost's presence.

            Their first few clandestine meetings had been awkward at best, full of long awkward silences and halting attempts at small talk. After all, what do you talk about after a decade of silence and destruction? Tucker had finally managed to break the ice by bringing Dan up to speed on events in the year he'd been gone; details about Amity Park's recovery. He'd quickly learned that Valerie was still a very sore subject, and focused his stories instead on the other key players; Sam and her role in taming Undergrowth, the work between many ghosts and the Patrol as a whole in establishing mutually beneficial agreements.

            Then Tucker had started to pry into the cause for Dan's apparent change of heart. The fire-headed ghost had been hesitant and even defensive at first, but gradually shared bits and pieces of that story. The other timeline, he'd gotten loose and set out to destroy the city like he had so many times in this timeline. Somehow his other self, that timeline's Danny had prevented it; and somehow Jazz had convinced him to change his ways. He had that timeline's Sam to thank for making him decide to return to his proper timeline.

            Still, the ghost clammed up when pressed for details, leaving Tucker with only a general idea of the events that must have transpired. He had no room to complain though; regardless of whatever the details were, the results were clear. Jazz in that other timeline had done _something_ that had restored the fire-headed ghost to something approaching rationality.

            "So... what have you been doing between meetings, anyway?" Tucker asked after one of the long silences that were standard for their conversations.

            Dan shrugged. "What is there to do? I can't just wander around without being attacked, you realize."

            "So you've been hiding in the Ghost Zone." Tucker surmised. "... Isn't that... I dunno, boring? I mean, you've been avoiding everybody, don't you have anything to do to kill time?"

            The geek ghost's choice of words set off a short bark of a laugh from Dan. "I've been _killing_ time alone for ten years, what difference does it make?"

            "Yeah.... but during those ten years you had stuff to do, what with all that 'kill everything' hobby of yours." Tucker crossed his arms, thinking. "Hey, why don't you try talking to Vlad?"

            The offhand comment apparently startled the fire-headed spook, for Tucker was treated to the unusual and oddly funny sight of Dan sputtering in surprised shock. "What good would that do?!"

            "Well, for one, he's older than everyone else." Tucker mused aloud. "So maybe he's got a better perspective on everything that's happened."

            "I spent the better part of ten years intending to _slaughter_ that fruit loop!" Dan protested with a growl.

            "Let's not forget where some of that fruit loop's heritage _went_." Tucker decided to push his luck and remind Dan about that.

            "I am nothing like him!" Dan steamed.

            "Whatcha think of the Green Bay Packers?" Tucker asked randomly.

            "They're the greatest team in the history of the NFL!" Dan retorted irritably. "They've won more championships than any team in history! Including _three_ Super Bowls!"

            "Thought so." Tucker nodded.

            It took a moment for the fire-headed spook to process what he'd just blurted. He slapped his forehead and cringed. The royal geek had just very neatly proven that despite what he wanted to think, Dan had more in common with that fruit loop than he cared to admit.

            "That doesn't mean anything!" Dan protested.

            "It means enough." Tucker pointed out. "Besides, nobody is looking for you in Wisconsin. A change of scenery can't hurt."

            "Why would I want to have anything to do with him?" The fire-headed spook hissed.

            "Well, let's see..." Tucker counted off, deciding it safe enough to really push his luck. "It'll give you someone else to talk to when I'm not around, it'll be a change of scenery and safe from Valerie and everybody, and you already met Danny, so why not Vlad? He's almost like your _dad_ in a way."

            " ** _EW!_** " Dan recoiled at that last statement and caught Tucker by the front of his robes, hauling the shorter ghost up to glare at him up close. "Never say that to me again! _Never_! My father is _dead_ and gone!"

            "Okay! Okay!" Tucker yelped, struggling against the immovable ghost's grip. "Sorry, just put me down! I was _kidding_!"

            Annoyed, Dan tossed the smaller ghost aside; Tucker tumbled for several dozen feet before he regained control of his trajectory. _That could have gone better._ The geek ghost mused to himself.

            "Look, it can't hurt anything to try talking to him at least." Tucker pressed, catching up to Dan.

            "Unless he chooses to give _Valerie_ -" Dan spat the name. "-a call and tell her where I am."

            "Nah, I doubt he'll do that." Tucker smirked. "Y'see, Val doesn't really like Vlad. She almost never talks to him, even though he's been funding the reconstruction of the city. She lets Paulina deal with him."

            "So he'll just call Paulina and regardless _she_ would find out." Dan growled.

            "Say, when _was_ the last time you saw Vlad, anyway?" Tucker quirked an eyebrow and decided it wise to shift the subject away from the huntress.

            The fire-headed spook paused in thought. Despite his efforts, he never had managed to track Vlad Masters down to finish what he started with the detonation of the castle. _And all that rare Packers merchandise..._ He cringed to himself.

            "Not since...." Dan frowned. " _That_ day."

            Tucker whistled at that. "When all the bad stuff happened? Dude, it's been ages then; he's changed a lot from what you probably remember. He's almost got that wise old man vibe going now."

            Dan paused an raised an eyebrow at that. "Vlad? Wise?"

            "Well yeah, not counting when he tried to kill other-Danny after you went back in time." Tucker nodded.

            "That's not exactly a good recommendation." Dan noted dryly.

            "Well it's worth a shot. C'mon, I'll go too if y'want." Tucker offered. "Besides, it's not like you've got anything _better_ to do, right?"

            "Will you quit harping on it if I say yes?" Dan grumbled.

            "Totally."

\---

            It was a far cry from the great castle he'd called home over a decade ago, but the three-story mansion that Vlad Masters currently resided in was far more comfortable than the primitive underground accommodations of the past ten years. Even without ghost powers, Vlad had been able to maintain his business empire the old-fashioned way; through shrewd management and sensible business practices. He wasn't as wealthy as he had been as Vlad Plasmius, the first known half-ghost and infamous archrival to Danny Phantom; but he was wealthy enough to live in comfort and still have the funding to throw at rebuilding Amity Park.

            With that monstrous ghost he was responsible for creating gone, Vlad had finally come out of hiding and put that wealth to good use. Some of it was invested in building his new mansion. Some went toward developing the areas in Madison, Wisconsin that the ghost had decimated. The majority of it went, however, to Amity Park. Perhaps a case of too little, too late, but it seemed to the billionaire a suitable place to atone for what he'd done.

            _Funny what ten years of being powerless can do to one's perspective on things._ Vlad mused to himself as he hobbled down the hallways of his mansion to his new lab.

            The facility could have been a carbon copy of the one where his life had changed for the worst. It wasn't that lab in reality; the ruins of the castle itself and its underground laboratory were a few acres away and untouched save for the steady attrition of the elements. No, this was a new facility, and the fruits of its research went straight to the Ghost Patrol in Amity Park.

            Well, and to some of the companies under the umbrella of his business empire, of course. But that was simply good business!

            Vlad stifled a groan as he got seated in the control chair for the lab. In his youth he would never have needed a comfy place to sit while conducting his work; however those days were a good ten years gone. Though only in his fifties, the billionaire quietly thought he felt far older. Being torn in half hadn't done his health any favors, and Vlad knew that he was probably fortunate to have even survived the separation and the subsequent explosion of his old castle with as little personal injury as he had. Sure, that left knee would probably never be the same again, but he was still able to walk.

            The physical injuries had long since healed, but some wounds never would. The billionaire had come to accept the familiar mental anguish, the pain of loss had long since ceased to be a stabbing agony; now it was merely a familiar acquaintance. The loss of Maddie, knowing she was gone forever; the sight of young Daniel's mangled form lying against the wrecked wall of the old lab, knowing the boy's death was squarely on _his_ head. He may not have done the horrible deed personally, but Vlad knew he was at least partly responsible for that tragedy; that horror that replayed itself for ten years for thousands of innocent bystanders.

            The former archvillain paused in thought. The tragedy was preying on his mind today more than it had in quite some time. He had been contacted by Miss Sanchez, the young woman informing him that _he_ had been sighted in Amity Park; soon after that word had arrived via the Ghost Zone confirming it.

            _I must be worrying that the ghost will find my portal and try to finish things._ The billionaire decided, resolving to put the matter out of his mind for the time being.

            Then he heard the footsteps.

            From the direction of the portal.

            The steps stopped, and a cold silence fell over the enclosed lab. Vlad suppressed a shiver, feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He couldn't say how he knew, but the billionaire _knew_ beyond all doubt who precisely was looming behind him; the ghost who had just come through the portal.

            The silence stretched out, seemingly content to remain unbroken and looming. No blast came, no witty rejoinder; no oblivion save for the unnerving void of sound. Finally Vlad couldn't take it any longer and spoke first.

            "Come to finish an old man off, have you?" He didn't turn around, the billionaire wasn't certain he was quite prepared to stare his death in the face. "I'm rather surprised it took you this long."

            Vlad heard a derisive snort from the ghost behind him. "You're not worth the effort, old man."

            Vlad raised an eyebrow at the voice. It carried familiar tones and inflections, though the voice itself had become deeper since he'd last heard it a decade ago; deeper and brimming with a sort of smug confidence that the billionaire recalled clearly from that day ten years ago.

>             _"Stay back, Daniel."_
> 
> _Vlad stood on quaking legs, interposing himself between the demented specter and Daniel's dazed human self; staring with eyes wide as he beheld the results of his botched attempt to help the boy. To say he ached all over would be an understatement; if given the chance he could likely have waxed quite crudely eloquent about the sensation of having his ghost half ripped out of him. At least Daniel had been knocked out for the operation!_
> 
> _"Out of the way, old man." The warped form of Daniel's ghost half sneered._
> 
> _Still shaken and unable to resist, Vlad could only yelp with further pain as the ghost launched a green energy blast. Unwilling to evade it and leave Daniel exposed, the billionaire had taken the hit full on, crying out when his back hit the wall. The blow knocked the wind out of him, leaving him dazed and only able to stare blankly at the scene unfolding before him._
> 
> _"Get back-!" Daniel was awake now, a look of terror flashing across his pale face as he scrambled away from the ghost._
> 
> _"Or else what? What can_ you _do? You're useless, a waste of time." The ghost veritably purred, walking toward the boy, almost leisurely. "You can't do_ anything _."_
> 
> _"I can too-!" Daniel protested weakly, sliding shakily into a battle stance. "I'm-"_
> 
> _Vlad could see the realization dawn on the boy, clear as day. He knew what Daniel had been about to say. "I'm going ghost!" That silly battle cry that the billionaire had mocked the younger half-ghost about when they'd first met months prior at the college reunion._
> 
> _"You're what?_ Going ghost _?" The ghost vocalized the exact sentiment Vlad had been thinking, punching Daniel in the gut hard enough to send the boy crashing into the far wall. "What could you possibly do?"_
> 
> _Vlad struggled to make his body respond to the commands he was trying to give it. He'd botched things badly enough, he refused to let Maddie down; not here, not like this! The impact had winded him worse than the billionaire originally thought, as he watched helplessly while the angry ghost menaced the boy._
> 
> _"You can't save anyone. You couldn't save Tucker, you couldn't save Jazz, you couldn't save Dad-" The ghost hissed, visibly angry; enraged even. "-and you couldn't save **Sam** OR **Maddie**."_
> 
> _The amount of venom in the ghost's tone about both the females momentarily baffled Vlad. The terrible realization dawned on the billionaire. He hadn't separated out the boy's emotions, not precisely. The unstable anguish of Daniel had in that instant shortly prior merged with his own hatred for Jack; his own obsession with Maddie. The fire-headed ghost was the perfect combination of all the_ worst _qualities of both Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius._
> 
> _"You know, I think I'm going to enjoy this." The ghost sneered, hefting Danny by the wreckage of the teen's shirt. "You want to join them?"_
> 
> _"No! Daniel!" Vlad finally found his voice, struggling upright at the boy's terrified cry._
> 
> " _Yes...." The ghost hissed, his grip shifting from Daniel's shirt and instead locking onto the boy's arms. "You're in my way, but not for long."_
> 
> _Daniel's cry of terror turned into a thin wail of pain, the sound driving the billionaire blindly to his feet. What Vlad could do against the demented ghost, he had no idea. His recollection was hazy at best; a blind charge at the ghost, a frantic demand that the ghost release Daniel..._
> 
> _... A fist carelessly slamming the billionaire upside the head and tumbling him back against one of the walls..._
> 
> _...and then..._
> 
> _...nothing._

            "If I'm not worth the effort, what brings _you_ to my humble abode?" Vlad retorted, still unwilling to face the ghost.

            "You think I'd come here _willingly_?" Came the snappy response.

            "Hey, you _did_ agree, dude!"

            The third voice, wholly unexpected, was what got Vlad to turn his chair around. He had coordinated efforts with the Ghost Patrol, and in turn with the King and Queen of the Mattingly estate before. Still, he didn't speak with the ghosts of Daniel's friends very often, so the King's presence along with the fire-headed ghost was something of a surprise.

            Tucker was quickly forgotten as clouded blue eyes met glowing red for the first time in a decade. Vlad hadn't been sure what to expect of the ghost's appearance. He hadn't seen much video footage of the specter, and the ghost's form had changed over the several years since he'd last seen the specter personally. When the billionaire had last seen the ghost, he'd been a scrawny twig in a black jumpsuit.

            If not for the spook's face, Vlad would almost not have recognized him. He'd grown, no longer a demented fire-headed teenager; but rather a tall adult who's gawky scrawniness had filled out and carried the barely veiled threat of terrifying speed and power. The ghost still wore the jumpsuit, though somewhere over the course of ten years the design of the outfit had changed, adding more white to the pattern in a way that eerily reminded Vlad of his own ghostly appearance. The jagged cape and white shadow of facial hair only reinforced that image. It made a certain sort of sense; after all the ghost _was_ the fusion of both Vlad and Danny's ghostly selves.

            Still, making sense didn't make the sight any less unsettling.

            "I don't remember you looking so _pathetic_ the last time we met." The ghost sneered, crossing his arms and obscuring the emblem on his chest.

            "Yes, being ripped in half tends to be bad for one's health." Vlad retorted, slightly surprised at his rejoinder to the insult. "But then I suppose you would know about _that_."

            Rather than show offense at the barb, the ghost broke into a snide sneer, fangs gleaming in the fluorescent light. It was all Vlad could do not to stare, the expression so familiar and yet at the same time so alien. The billionaire knew on some level he ought to be impressed; two wildly disparate identities had somehow come together and established something that carried traits of both yet was somehow wholly new. It was still entirely too creepy for Vlad's tastes; and given the research he had been doing years ago, _that_ was quite a statement!

            "I suppose I would." The ghost responded with a sneer.

            "Well then, Ph-" Vlad began.

            "Vlad, this is Dan." Tucker cut the billionaire off, already well aware of the ghost's apparent complex about the name Phantom. "Dan Plasmius."

            A quick look at the fire-headed spook's face confirmed to Vlad that the name issue was a sensitive subject. He shrugged, still unsure what the ghost's presence meant.

            "Clever." The billionaire ventured warily. "And I suppose appropriate enough, considering the circumstances."

            "That _was_ the idea." Dan retorted, though quietly he was glad Tucker had corrected Vlad about the name thing.

            Awkward silence fell over the room again, stifling and uncertain. This time, it was Dan who broke it.

            "Say something already, old man." Dan griped, arms crossed defensively. "I stink at making small talk."

            "And you think living in a hole in the ground for ten years has made me any better at it?" Vlad retorted almost automatically.

            "Hole in the ground?" Dan raised an eyebrow as he surveyed the lab. "Some hole you've got here."

            "Not _this_ one!" Vlad snapped, surprised at his own fearlessness in the face of the ghost that had torn Daniel to bits ten years ago. "The ruins of my old lab, you fool!"

            Vlad regretted his choice of words the instant they left his mouth. Surely the ghost had an uncertain temper at best; though he had privately thought it strange that there had yet to be a repeat of the destruction that the ghost had plagued Amity Park with for ten years.

            Instead of a snarl or the halfway expected violent response, Dan merely looked shocked.

            "The old-" He murmured, eyes going wide. "You mean to say you've been living in that wreckage for the past decade?!"

            "Yes, no thanks to _you_." Vlad shot back.

            Dan facepalmed at the revelation. "To think, I've been past that heap of rubble _how_ many times when I was looking to kill you, and you were right under my nose _the entire time_?"

            "Mmhm." Vlad responded, one eyebrow raised. "But I suppose no thanks to King Foley, you've the perfect opportunity now."

            It was a challenge, plain and simple. If the ghost wanted to finish Vlad off, he'd been given the opportunity on a silver platter. Dan had after all just admitted that he had been looking to kill the billionaire for some time; was that still on his agenda? Vlad suspected that was not the case, otherwise Tucker would have been a fool to lead the ghost to the portal. While Vlad often found the royal geek annoying, he had enough respect for the geek to know Tucker wasn't stupid.

            "Clean our your ears, old man." Dan snapped in response. "I already said you aren't worth it."

            The tension in the room eased; a nearly tangible pressure lifting with that confirmation that for whatever reason the ghost was no longer interested in wholesale slaughter.

            "You know, if you prefer that I simply call you Dan, _Daniel_ -" Vlad retorted, feeling annoyed enough by all the 'old mans' to chance the spook's wrath. "-I expect the same consideration."

            The ghost bristled visibly, fists clenching reflexively. Tucker gave a yelp and backed away, almost certain things had just gone downhill. Dan and Vlad locked glares, neither wavering. Vlad certainly was in the right, but Dan was the one with all the power that could render who was 'right' and who was 'wrong' a non-issue in a single shot.

            Amazingly, it was Dan who yielded first, diverting his gaze to one side with an exasperated snort. "Whatever, Vlad."

            "Thank you." Vlad let his expression soften slightly. "So as I've inquired before; if you're not here to finish me off, then what _are_ you doing here?"

            "Actually, Vlad, it was kinda my idea." Tucker spoke up again, once he was sure there wasn't going to be a nuclear explosion. "I mean, things have been tense in the Ghost Zone and in Amity Park-"

            "Yes, I recall hearing he-" Vlad gestured at Dan. "-had somehow returned despite being reportedly trapped outside of time itself."

            "Clockwork." Dan growled. "That was an unpleasant six months."

            "Six months?" Vlad quirked an eyebrow. "You've been gone a year-"

            "Yes, I'm quite aware of that." Dan interrupted with a scowl. "Six months of it were spent crammed into one of those accursed thermoses."

            While Vlad had never had the 'pleasure' of being caught in one of Jack's insidious little ghost traps, he could only shudder at the thought. Six months of entrapment, it was no small wonder that the ghost was even remotely sane after that!

            "Yeah..." Tucker didn't want to even imagine what that must have been like. "And Dan's kinda gotten over all _that_... but try telling that to Valerie."

            Vlad quirked an eyebrow at the cloud of rage that the huntress' name triggered in Dan's expression. "Yes, you do realize that she's not likely to forgive events very easily. She can be-"

            "-quite _dedicated_ to her work." Dan finished the sentence with a growl. "I'm well aware, and I couldn't care less what _she_ thinks."

            Vlad kept his thoughts to himself, but it was a revelation that would have rocked the billionaire back on his heels had he been standing. That was the voice of pure obsession, the same sort of senseless hatred that had propelled Vlad himself into scheming against Jack all those years ago. It was rather sobering to see the exact same emotion from the outside.

            _To think, had I succeeded in getting Daniel to join me back then..._ Vlad mused, deciding he had more in common with the ghost than he really wanted to admit; but he could see what Tucker was up to. They had no way to fight the ghost, so they had to seize upon the opportunity to prevent further violence by any means possible. If that meant giving the apparently lonely specter someone to talk to, so be it. Valerie was of course too set in her ways to do anything but shoot; but Vlad was older and perhaps a bit more removed from the disaster though he was at its source. _To think, this might be what he would have been had things gone differently._

\---

            "If Clockwork will not act, there is little choice left."

            The air hung heavy over the headquarters of the Observants, the complex completely filled to capacity for the first time in ages. It was rare for the one-eyed ghosts to gather en masse like this; they hadn't even all gathered when they dealt with Vortex. Indeed, they hadn't all gathered when Pariah was accidentally freed over a decade ago; nor had they all been present when it was decided to turn the Ghost King loose in a botched attempt at ridding the Ghost Zone of that fire-headed Danny Phantom. Only two had been dispatched to make sure that Phantom was dealt with a year ago.

            That was then, however; and this was now. Clockwork remained tight-lipped about the so-called "plans" he had put in motion to stop the pending disaster. The gathered Observants had analyzed the situation several times over, yet they could find nothing to indicate that _anything_ had been done. The Master of Time's movements were difficult to track of course, being that he could move freely across four dimensions while the ghosts could only observe events in three. Still, there was no sign that Clockwork had done anything at all; his inaction would surely doom them all if nothing was done soon!

            "If Clockwork will not act to stop this disaster, then we must..." The leader of the gathered ghosts hesitated on voicing what they all knew already. "... We must interfere directly."

            "Will that be enough?" Another voice chimed in. "We know the terrible power _he_ has at his command. Our force is no small matter, but can anything stop his destruction?"

            "It is impossible, there is _nothing_ on Earth or in the Ghost Zone that can compete with that!"

            "We have no choice!" A third protested. "We cannot simply sit and watch him destroy _everything_!"

\---

            It was deep within the Ghost Zone, a spot of void like every other spot of void. To the untrained eye, it was a location of no consequence; merely a spot in the center of a floating cloud of rocky debris. To a ghost trying to navigate the debris field, it was a welcome respite from the boulders and rocks.

            It was where Pariah's Keep had once stood, a deadly fortress in years past. Reduced now to rubble thanks to Dan's struggle against the Ghost King, it was merely one more cloud of wreckage in the Ghost Zone; no different than the wreckage that remained of Walker's prison or any other landmark that Dan saw fit to destroy in his deadly rampages. Many deemed the location as being no longer significant.

            There was a sound, low and creaking and faintly reminiscent of heavy cloth being torn. The phenomenon had been noticed years ago by the denizens of the Ghost Zone, and it had summarily been dismissed as yet another oddity of the spectral realm.

            If only they had known what it truly meant...


	6. Logic, Void, and Death

**Logic, Void, and Death**  
"No more hope of freedom  
Our dreams are washed away  
The second age is coming  
It's the dawn of a new day  
Judgement stands before us  
The second king will rise"  
_-"Revelations" - Dragonforce_ **  
**

            _...crack..._

            "So what I'm saying is maybe he's not going to be a threat to anybody anymore." Tucker concluded.

            Danny and Sam exchanged doubtful looks. The two ghosts still didn't know that the royal geek was in routine communication with Dan; nor did they know that Vlad was also in regular contact with the fire-headed spook.

            "We've got ten years of proof he's going to try and blow everything to bits!" Sam countered. "So what, nobody's seen him for a month or so now? That doesn't mean a thing; Valerie went for a few _years_ without seeing him, remember?"

            "Sam's got a point, Tuck." Danny agreed. "Just because nothing's happened yet doesn't mean it's not going to happen."

            Tucker gave an exasperated sigh. Of course he'd been trying to plant the idea that maybe they didn't need to worry about Dan anymore. He wasn't about to suggest they try giving him a chance, let alone forgiving the fire-headed ghost. Tucker's own opinion of the ghost may have improved, but not even he was quite magnanimous enough to forgive Dan for all his terrible deeds. Dan had ruthlessly murdered Danny after all, even if it could be interpreted as some sort of self-inflicted injury due to Dan's... _complicated_... nature.

            "Well..." Tucker racked his brain for a response that wouldn't involve revealing he had been talking to the ghost. "I dunno, when nobody would see him around, wasn't it usually because he got his butt kicked and had to recover first?"

            "I guess so..." Danny shrugged, glancing at Sam.

            "Yeah..." The goth's expression was dark; Tucker had a feeling he was already on thin ice with his friends about the subject.

            "Well, from what we know, his last fight was about a year ago.... or ten years ago? Stupid time travel!" Tucker complained rhetorically. "Point is, he had to have recovered already or he couldn't have gotten away from that Fenton Thermos. So we can probably assume he's not recovering from injuries."

            "Mmhm." Sam had her arms crossed, and Tucker recognized the stubborn expression on her face.

            "I guess." Danny agreed, his own face registering doubt.

            "Well if he doesn't need to rest up, what's he waiting for then?" Tucker concluded.

            The couple in front of him looked at one another in thought. Unfortunately for Tucker, Sam had a counter to his argument.

            "We don't _know_ that for sure." The goth ghost countered. "Maybe it took a lot of power to bust out of that thermos?"

            _Except he's been_ out _of the thermos for six months already._ Tucker mentally retorted. _And busting out of the Fenton Thermos didn't take anything out of him anyway._

            Of course, revealing that information would reveal that the geek ghost had been in contact with Dan. Tucker knew he was doing the right thing, but he also strongly suspected that his friends would _not_ see it that way. Sam especially, she harbored a dislike for Dan that was second perhaps only to Valerie's impressive loathing of the ghost. Tucker fully intended to come clean to the pair eventually, but not until he was sure they wouldn't flip on him about it.

            Which meant proving that Dan wasn't going to appear and blast them all to smithereens.

            An effort that had, so far, been utterly futile.

_...crack..._

\---

            "What is that fruit loop thinking, saying Brett Favre should have retired-?" Dan complained to no one in particular, the ghost passing aimlessly through a field of debris in the Ghost Zone.

            He would never have dreamed it, but he had just spent the better part of a day at Vlad's mansion. They'd been watching a football game, the Packers were playing of course; and they had spent the better part of the game trading insults and arguing about the various strategies and players on the team. Dan's dignity had excluded him from wearing the proper cheesehead regalia, of course; however Vlad didn't share that restriction and had been proudly displaying his affiliation.

            Dan had been certain to insult the older man's apparent lack of dignity and gaudy attire at every available opportunity.

            It wasn't exactly a friendship. Dan would never call Vlad a _friend_ , and he was sure the feeling was mutual. Indeed, _friends_ didn't take every opportunity to insult the intelligence of one another; and though Dan was loathe to admit it even to himself, Vlad was every bit as good at it as he was and perhaps slightly better.

            It wasn't even a rivalry, there was little for them to compete over. It was simple fact that Dan was more powerful; while Vlad was more wealthy and perhaps more clever. The ghost had no aspirations to financial wealth; the billionaire had shown no interest in acquiring power beyond what he had via his business empire.

            No, if anything it was a strange sort of rapport between two ex-villains. They had a little in common for obvious reasons; the same reason Dan had certain things in common with Danny. It wasn't friendly, indeed it was often barely civil; but it was _honest_. There was no pretending; Vlad had accepted Dan's presence but never pretended that it was truly welcome, Dan had accepted Vlad's scant hospitality but never pretended to truly appreciate it.

            _...crack..._

            Dan paused, surveying his surroundings. He wasn't sure why, but that one spot in the Ghost Zone seemed to always draw his attention. He knew what the debris used to be; after all, he'd been the one to lay waste to Pariah's grand fortress and leave indeterminate rubble it his wake. It just seemed something in that region was always pricking at his awareness.

            _...crack..._

            There was always some noise in that area; Dan chalked it up to colliding debris. There was an unusual rhythm to it however, a rhythm that the ghost had only just realized. The Ghost Zone was known for inexplicable oddities, but for some reason the steady clack of _something_ against something else was making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

            Well, as much as white flame could stand on end, at any rate.

            **_CRACK!_**

            And then, reality shattered.

\---

            Valerie's head shot up, her lunch momentarily forgotten. _What was that?_ She could have sworn she had heard a gunshot outside.

            "What's up, Commander?" One of the other Patrol members sharing the cafeteria with the huntress glanced over, having noticed her jolt.

            "Did you hear something?" Valerie frowned.

            "Hear something?" The young man raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

            "I don't know." The huntress admitted after a moment. "I thought... I could swear it sounded like a gunshot."

            The Patroller shook his head. "I didn't hear anything. You're sure you didn't imagine it?"

            "I'm pretty sure." Valerie frowned, munching her salad in thought. "I know I'm not slated for the afternoon patrol, but I think I'm gonna do a long-range sweep of the Far Outlands after lunch. Call it a hunch, I guess."

            "Uh... okay."

            _It can't be Phantom._ Valerie mused sourly to herself. _If it was him, it wouldn't be a single gunshot, it'd be a ground-shaking explosion. There wouldn't be any doubt then. What_ was _that-?_

            She hurried to finish the rest of her salad, hardly tasting it. Valerie's nerves had grated raw over the past few weeks, the tension aroused by Phantom's return only worsened as the ghost failed to make an encore appearance. She tried not to take it out on the Patrol under her command, with only some success as she pushed the force harder than she had since the siege years ago.

            Still, perhaps a long flight would help her relax, even if only a little. Valerie did derive an awful lot of enjoyment out of patrol, out of flying across the city on her jet sled. A long-range sweep would keep her out and busy the rest of the day, easily. Perhaps well into the night if she wanted; unlike many of her fellow Patrol members, the huntress was perfectly at home roughing it out in the wastelands. She'd had to learn to be, after all; when Phantom destroyed the ghost shield in his final and most lethal rampage, her very survival had hinged on being able to eke out an existence in the ruins without any help or any hope of aid.

            To be honest, sometimes she felt more comfortable out there than secure in her apartment at headquarters.

\---

            Dan shielded himself against the shockwave instinctively, though the blast wave flung him back several dozen feet. The boulders nearest the blast were vaporized in an instant; those further away were sent flying, resuming their journey started by Dan's own blast that destroyed the Keep years ago.

            _Great._ Dan complained to himself. _I wonder which of my old acquaintances is going to try and kill me now._

            No further attack seemed to be immediately forthcoming, so the ghost dispelled the barrier and got a good look at what had _caused_ the explosion. Red eyes widened in shock and he immediately dropped into a defensive crouch.

            Dan was surrounded on all sides by a veritable army of veiled  ghosts.

            His first instinct was to launch the first attack and clear a path through the surrounding ghosts. One doesn't get surrounded for any _nice_ reason, after all. Then again, he was trying not to give anyone a reason to think he was the same old psychopath he'd been for the past decade. What if these ghosts were some of the scouts Tucker had mentioned?

            "Who are you?" Dan hissed through clenched teeth.

            "Kill...." One of the ghosts in the mob mumbled. "Kill..."

            _Clearly, we have a failure to communicate._ Dan noted dryly.

            "For the king." One of the others picked up the chant. "Kill for the King!"

            That seemed to spur the mob into action as they moved in on Dan, drawing weapons. Each ghost was wearing a loose robe and a veil that obscured their faces; Dan suspected they were generic skeleton ghosts beneath the veils. Still, they were clearly unfriendly; nor did he know who exactly they were.

            Dan evaded the first swing of a sickly green saber easily, ectoplasmic energy swirling around his clenched fists.

            "Well, now that it's merely self-defense instead of unchecked rampage..." Dan growled, opening one hand to form the green energy into a compact ball. "... I'll have to kill you _all_ now!"

            Admittedly, the fire-headed ghost was looking forward to the prospect of a safe target to take some violence out on. The past several weeks had been trying on his fragile patience, to say the least. Laying flaming waste to a horde of mindless drones seemed to be the perfect outlet.

            The first blast cleaved clear through the mob, revealing the black and green sky of the Ghost Zone beyond it. Dan immediately dove for the opening before the mob could close in, blasts from both hands sending massive explosions through the ranks to his right and left. Like the skeletal minions of Pariah Dark, these veiled ghosts were exceedingly weak, crumpling before his strength.

            "You know, if you're going to pick a fight with _me_ , you should know that it's impossible to win!" Dan sneered, spinning around and charging a giant green blast in both hands.

            Had it been a few years ago, Dan would have used such a blast to detonate an entire city block; perhaps an area a few miles in diameter. The explosion certainly brought back recollections of the ghost's final rampage in the city after his Ghostly Wail had destroyed that stupid shield. Skeletons went flying in all directions, the green shockwave ripping across the mass of ghosts.

            _Where did they all_ come _from?_ Dan wondered, putting some more distance between himself and the mob to get an idea of what he was up against.

            It was clear now these ghosts couldn't have been scouts from the Mattingly castle; no one would send an _army_ on a simple scouting mission. Tucker may have had a flair for overkill, but Dan was pretty confident that the royal geek wasn't _that_ big an idiot. They couldn't have been remnants of Pariah's army; those had been simple skeletons, with the occasional sword or helmet; these were all clad in matching dark red robes and black veils with some sort of four-horned crest sewn into them.

            _And who is this "King" they're killing for, anyway?_ Dan duplicated himself to dodge another attack, both selves strafing the mob with powerful blasts.

            A third duplicate singled out one of the ghosts, grabbing the veiled spook and hauling it away from the mob while Dan's other two duplicates continued the attack.

            "Who's this King you're talking about?" Dan hissed, shaking the ghost by the front of its robes.

            "Heehee..." The ghost chuckled in a shrill voice.

            "Tell me!" Dan demanded, the statement punctuated by explosions below from his duplicates. "Who is it you useless goons are working for?"

            "The King." The ghost whispered reverently. "Our lord and savior, the great one destined to rule all and remake the world in his image-"

            "Enough of the pretty language, curse you!" Dan snarled, rapidly losing what patience he had. "Give me a name, you fool! A name!"

            The ghost didn't answer, instead laughing in that shrill voice. It was particularly grating laughter with a high pitch that distantly reminded Dan of that lunatic ringmaster Freakshow. That thought displeased Dan, he hadn't thought about that incident in ages. The memory of having been controlled rankled and blew through the tattered remains of his patience.

            "Fine, I'll send your _king_ -" Dan sneered, vaporizing the ghost. "-to oblivion after you!"

            Something tore through the mob below, cleaving dual silver bands of destruction through the massed ghosts. With unerring precision, the blasts raced toward Dan's two duplicates, destroying anything caught in the blast. He dispelled his copies with barely any time to spare before they would have been struck.

            "Is that so?" An unfamiliar, deep voice rumbled from across the battlefield.

\---

            "Man, it's so frustrating!" Tucker complained, flopping down on his throne with a sigh.

            "I take it you haven't had any luck convincing the others that he's no longer a threat to life and limb?" Dora inquired.

            "It's always 'He's been doing this for ten years, he's not going to change now!'" Tucker pitched his voice higher in a mockery of Sam. "And there's just no talking to Valerie about it, period. She's convinced Dan's out for blood; hers!"

            "Well..." Dora eased herself into her throne next to Tucker. "Can you expect anything else? They haven't talked with him, they have no reason to believe that he _has_ changed from what they know."

            "I know." Tucker sighed. "It's just frustrating. I mean, okay, I can see why Danny would be completely unforgiving and all. But the girls are just being stubborn!"

            "Perhaps because they love Danny?" Dora pointed out. "Sam is clearly besotted with Danny, after all. I would not be surprised if Valerie harbored similar feelings for him. They don't see Dan as part of what Danny _was_ , they're blinded by their love for Danny; they'll only ever see Dan as Danny's murderer."

            "They're clueless." Tucker rolled his eyes. "Sam, I could see. But Val? I dunno."

            "Don't forget Valerie also carries a vendetta for the death of her father and comrades as well." Dora paused thoughtfully. "They all have a great many reasons not to forgive Dan for his actions."

            "Yeah, I know." Tucker slumped. "But-"

            Any further statements were cut off by a distant rumble of thunder, the ground beneath the two ghosts bucking like a frenzied beast. Tucker was thrown from his seat and faceplanted against the stone flooring with a yelp, while Dora remained in her seat by virtue of bracing herself between the armrests. A chorus of startled shouts echoed from the castle's denizens as the shaking intensified and then subsided with an ominous rumble.

            "What was that?!" Dora looked around the throne room, her eyes wide.

            "Ow..." Tucker picked himself up off the floor. "You okay?"

            "I'm fine." Dora confirmed shakily. "That sounded almost like an explosion!"

            Tucker stopped at that statement, a look of panic crossing his face. "An explosion- Oh man!"

            "You don't think it was-?" Dora didn't have a chance to finish the statement; Tucker was already pelting for the door, transforming as he ran.

            "I gotta find out if that was Dan!" He shouted behind him. "I was supposed to meet him later anyway!"

            "I'm going too!" Dora was hardly a wingbeat behind the royal geek. "If he's involved, the situation is likely too dangerous to go alone!"

            Tucker didn't protest Dora's decision. She was every bit as capable a fighter in dragon form as he was, and probably better; and he had a sinking feeling about whatever had caused such a shockwave to rip through the Ghost Zone. If Dan was involved, it could only mean one thing.

            He was destroying something... or some _one_.

\---

            Dan drifted back, mouth hanging open as he took in the sight of his new opponent.

            "Who... who the heck are _you_?!" He gaped.

            The ghost glowering across the battlefield at Dan could only be described as massive; he towered above the horde of veiled ghosts. The horde, already vastly reduced by Dan's efforts, parted; nearly groveling as their leader passed them. The giant gave off a veritable aura that commanded fear; even Dan with his confidence and massive ego was affected.

            At a glance, the ghost appeared to be some sort of barbarian; he was clad in leather armor, with an enameled metal chestplate and spiked shoulder guard; all of it polished to a deep red luster. In the massive right hand was a huge sword easily three times Dan's height; the left hand was protected by an armored gauntlet that Dan suspected was made of gold, though the metal was bright, nearly platinum in color. Somehow the ghost's footsteps sent shockwaves through the immediate area though there was no ground to tread on.

            Then Dan looked at his enemy's face.

            Stark white, a veritable wall with black markings; baleful red eyes glaring down from above a terrible scowl. That vicious face was framed by a crazed mane of deep red hair, in turn framed by the jet black horns. One pair, large and coiled to either side of the ghost's face; ram horns on a gigantic scale. The other pair, jutting from above his forehead before sweeping back and upward; a cruel parody of a bull.

            Dan noticed all this in a second, and it was a good thing; he would have missed the giant spiked mace flying at his head if he had been distracted by the spook. He quickly dove out of the way and countered with a green blast that ripped the weapon from the giant's armored grip.

            "I asked a question." Dan snarled, showing his fangs. "I demand an answer!"

            "You dare..." The ghost boomed. "You dare to **demand** anything of your lord and master?!"

            "Lord and-" Dan stopped and glowered at the ghost. "Yes, I do, because the last time I checked, I don't _have_ any lord or master!"

            "Insolent specter!" The ghost closed in on Dan, swinging that sword with far more speed than anything its size had any right to move. "You know not the face of the only one fit to command this world?"

            Dan jumped the blade, landing briefly on the flat of the great weapon and blasting the ghost in the face before kicking into the air and out of the way. He rode the blast wave from the resultant explosion-

            Except there wasn't an explosion.

            "What-?" Dan looked down at his target.

            The ghost was grinning, a sinister slash of a smile that cut across his face. His left hand, the one with the gauntlet was held up; the green energy blast held suspended within the cupped fingers.

            "This is expected to harm **me**?" The ghost sneered. " ** _Pathetic._** "

            The ghost's gauntlet gleamed with a silver light, and Dan's blast... vanished. It wasn't dispelled, it was as though it had simply ceased to exist entirely.

            "All hail Lord Maghnus!" The cry went up from the horde of veiled ghosts. "Lord of the Dark, great savior of this cursed land!"

            _Well I suppose that answers my question._ Dan quipped to himself.

            "Some savior!" Dan taunted. "Obviously you don't know what you're up against!"

            "Bah, the same despicable ego as the humans." The ghost hissed, lobbing a red blast the size of a large building at Dan.

            Admittedly, even Dan had some trouble dodging _that_ one. He snarled a curse as he got out of the way, the stink of scorched fabric revealing what a close scrape it had been. Any slower, and it wouldn't have just been the end of his cape being fried.

            Dan used the cover of the blast to duplicate himself again, three copies turning invisible and moving to flank the huge ghost. The fourth remained visible to distract Maghnus. Somehow the huge ghost could dispel energy attacks with that gauntlet. Clearly then, the best strategy was to make a situation where the ghost couldn't block an attack; and Maghnus couldn't block multiple attacks from various directions with just one arm!

            "I think I'm entitled to brag." Dan taunted the ghost, lobbing a green blast the size of a bus at the spook. "After all, I'm the only one in the the entire Ghost Zone that not only defeated, but _destroyed_ the ghost king!"

            As expected, Maghnus snatched Dan's blast out of the air with the gauntlet, his stony expression turning darker at that. "The ghost _king_?"

            "Sure, big guy, used to have a castle." Dan sneered. "Crown of Fire, Ring of Ra-"

            " **THOSE WERE _MINE_!** " The ghost boomed, the sheer volume of his voice enough to send Dan backwards in surprise. "He stole them! He **betrayed** me and took that which is rightfully **MINE**!"

            _Did I say something wrong?_ Dan mused idly as his three copies lined up their blasts. He used the opportunity afforded by Maghnus ranting to aim the fourth and final blast. Surely one of them would strike true, and this little diversion would be over with.

            "Here, let me give a little of them _back_ to you then!" Dan quipped, all four of him firing.

            Ah, the witty banter! Dan had missed it so. The statement was accurate enough; in his fight with Pariah years ago he had destroyed both the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage. In the explosion, the vast store of power contained by the two artifacts had been absorbed by Dan. The result had vastly boosted his power.

            "You-!" Maghnus hissed, lashing out with his gauntlet.

            A bolt of silver cracked into existence, and struck.

\---

            Valerie landed her jet sled near the crater, studying the wreckage. Despite her earlier paranoia, she had yet to find anything amiss on her long-range sweep. The wind toyed with her hair; she needed to trim it again.

            So far from the city the only sounds were the wind whistling through the ruins and the groaning of concrete and steel slowly settling and shifting. Rarely, ever so rarely, there was the occasional call of a bird. Otherwise, the ruins were silent; a vast graveyard for all the victims Phantom had claimed.

            For six months she'd thrown sanity and self-preservation to the wind after the shield fell over a year ago. Insane with grief, she'd dedicated herself obsessively to a single goal; Phantom's destruction. Revenge.

            _How dare he come back._ She growled to herself, unable to defile the silence by giving voice to her thoughts. _We were finally able to move on and start over, and he had to come back._

            She wandered down the broken roadway, littered with debris. The destroyed remains of FentonWorks had tipped into the street, nearly blocking it up with a heap of twisted metal and shattered brick. The old ops center was a nearly unrecognizable mass of steel; Valerie wondered when exactly the shell of the building had finally fallen over completely.

            _Probably when Danny, Sam, and Tucker were here._ She mused. _When Phantom showed up and almost finished me off._

            It had been about a year since then, though it felt like it had been ages. That other Danny had won, ten years ago in that other timeline. What had happened to turn Phantom loose again? Had the Fenton Thermos failed, unleashing the ghost on an unsuspecting Amity Park? Was that other Danny still alive?

            Why hadn't Clockwork done anything to stop it?

            Valerie wasn't sure if she was glad that the ghost hadn't put in a repeat appearance, or if she was annoyed. On the one hand, the New City was intact and everyone in it was currently safe. On the other, there was no way to know when the ghost would resume his attack. Why hadn't he attacked? From what she could tell from their brief encounter in the old cemetery, there was no reason for Phantom to retreat. Paulina had agreed; the ghost had appeared to be in perfect condition. So why had he retreated and gone into hiding?

            "Stupid ghost."

\---

            Dan screamed.

            Normally he would have been appalled by his reaction, but he was too busy being in _pain_ to care about appearances. He wasn't quite sure what had happened. One instant Maghnus was surrounded on four sides by huge green energy blasts that were about to tear the giant to bits.

            The next instant Maghnus had launched a silver bolt from his gauntlet. The brilliant beam sliced through Dan's blast like a hot knife through butter; except instead of parting the green energy, it made it... disappear.

            Dan barely had the chance to get that particular duplicate out of harms' way; the silver beam had caught him in the shoulder and arm. As with the energy blast just prior, anything touched by the silver blast simply... ceased to exist. In other words, that copy just had its left arm sheared clean off.

            And blast it all, it _hurt_.

            Dan dispelled that particular copy, though it didn't make the burning agony in his left arm cease. His duplicates were still part of him, however disposable; and a mortal wounding to one was going to leave a mark even after it had disappeared.

            He tried to collect his wits enough to have his other two duplicates continue the attack. They flanked Maghnus, laying down a haphazard covering fire of blasts. Some of them did actually hit the giant ghost, however they seemed to do little damage. They didn't even scorch the ghost's red armor.

            "Not even the _ghost king_ could stop **me**!" Maghnus bellowed, lunging at the nearest duplicate.

            "Cr-" Dan yowled, his shout interrupted by the armored fist closing around one of his duplicates.

            Dan's vision went white and his entire world was briefly consumed with nothing short of pure, complete physical agony. Maghnus had used that strange silver energy weapon on the duplicate, and it had disappeared entirely. Dan thrashed, his other remaining copy vanishing as his concentration shattered. The sensation was astounding; burning, searing pain; stabbing, tearing sensations as if he had been ripped to bits.

            Which of course _had_ happened to that duplicate.

            _I...._ Dan realized in a barely coherent thought. _I can't beat this guy!_

            That was a concept that would have rankled badly under normal circumstances. He hadn't been so utterly outclassed by _anyone_ in a very long time. Even when he had been beaten by Danny in that other timeline, it wasn't that his other self had been more powerful; that Danny had merely been stubborn and unbelievably lucky.

            Dan wasn't thinking about that, however. He was in incredible pain and knew he was on the brink of losing consciousness. Ego had to take the backseat to basic survival for the first time in a long time; and that required him to focus. He couldn't get away by flying; he was too badly maimed. So he had to generate a portal with the remains of his strength and escape to the human world.

            "So you destroyed my younger brother." Maghnus boomed, glowering at Dan's crippled form. "Pariah was always insignificant compared to me. And now I shall gladly serve you the very fate you boast of giving him!"

            Silver energy glowed around that gauntlet on the giant ghost's arm, the strange weapon aimed right at Dan. In a moment it would fire, and he knew if it hit, his life was over.

            "You..." Dan rasped, one fist slowly clenching as he mustered the remains of his strength.

            A black bolt of energy lanced out toward Dan, rather than silver. It arced crazily through the air, a beam of pure darkness; death itself. There was a flash of green right before it reached Dan; a bare flicker that was quickly consumed by the fatal blast as though it had never existed. When it was over...

            There was nothing left of Dan.


	7. Chapter 7

**Search and Hunt**  
"After the night he died  
I wept my tears until they dried  
But the pain stayed the same  
I didn't want him to die all in vain  
I made a promise to revenge his soul in time  
I'll make them bleed down at my feet"  
_-"The Promise" - Within Temptation_ **  
**

            "Dan!" Tucker roared, taking full advantage of the sheer volume a dragon's set of lungs could generate. "C'mon man, this isn't funny!"

            It had been a few hours, yet after the initial explosion there was no sign of a fight. Dora was checking elsewhere in the Ghost Zone, but neither had found any indication of anything wrong. None of the ghosts either of them spoke to knew anything other than having heard a single explosion. No fighting...

            ...And no Dan.

            Tucker knew just how powerful Dan was. There was no way the ghost's sheer brute strength could be topped by anybody. Yet they were supposed to meet up two hours ago; when Tucker went to the meeting place, Dan was nowhere to be found. The fire-headed ghost was always on time, and usually early. The earlier explosion, coupled with his absence had the royal geek quite frankly worried.

            _You better not have gone back to old habits. I trusted you!_ He growled to himself. _I probably should have known better, but I did anyway!_

            If Dan _had_ reverted to his destructive habits, it was imperative that Tucker give warning to Sam and Danny as well as Amity Park. Though what good any of them could do was unknown, they at least deserved warning. On the other hand, Dan's disappearance and only one known explosion had Tucker worried on some level more about _Dan's_ well-being. Dan's rampages in the past had never consisted of a single blast and then silence; his rampages had been just that, a series of explosions one after another. Dan couldn't stop at just one.

            _If we can't find him... or find out what happened_ to _him soon..._ Tucker cringed as he flew on. _I'm gonna have to expand the search... which means telling Sam and Danny... and Valerie._

\---

            It was getting toward evening, and Valerie was looking for a likely spot to set up camp for the night. She'd left word with headquarters that she was going on a long range patrol and wouldn't be back that night; it wasn't unusual for her to take on the tedious patrols deep into the wastelands that could last from a few hours to a week. The huntress was used to the rough conditions and sometimes quite frankly, she enjoyed the time to herself.

            Perhaps it was simply the fact that during those bleak months after the shield fell, Valerie had been one of the very few people who boldly struck out in the desolation. Others grouped together for support and some false perception of safety; she had maintained a largely solitary existence for those six months. Between her own madness and the isolation, she had become accustomed to being by herself; at times being around everyone in the New City made her extremely uncomfortable and longing for that quiet time with just her thoughts for company.

            The scenery brought back memories as she found a likely spot and landed her jet sled in the lee of a toppled skyscraper. She no longer _needed_ to worry about setting up camp in a hidden location, but it was a habit that she suspected she would never shake.

>             _"Where are you hiding, Valerie?" That voice crooned, the silky tone doing little to cover the steel of the ghost's rage beneath it._
> 
> _She remained deadly still in her hiding place, a tiny pocket in the rubble of a collapsed building. It hadn't been comfortable, nor easy to get into; it probably wasn't all that safe either. On the other hand, it was hidden, and someone outside the wreck wouldn't realize easily that there was anywhere_ to _crawl into among the debris. She had been napping, a fitful rest consisting of a few minutes of light sleep broken up by long stretches of silent vigilance._
> 
> _He had stolen up on her sometime in the night, but didn't know where she was. He had probably seen her heading toward the area earlier, and had lost track of her location among the scorched debris of the city. She was honestly surprised those pointy ears couldn't hear her heart pounding in her chest as she peered through the merest slit of an opening in the concrete rubble around her._
> 
> _She silently readied one of her weapons, already knowing this was not a good time to take a shot at him. She wasn't in a position to make a rapid getaway, so actually attacking the ghost was not an option. She could only wait, stay silent, and hope the ghost moved on. That was one thing she could usually count on; now that the city lay in ruins, the ghost seldom wasted his energy on random giant blasts into the wreckage._
> 
> _No, he wanted to_ see _his victims. This she knew. He wanted to see her, to kill her personally. He would be satisfied with nothing less, and that was one of her few advantages in the high stakes game of tag she was playing with him. If she could destroy him, her revenge would be carried out; the deaths of Danny, of her father, of every single one of the ghost's victims would be avenged._
> 
> _If she lost... she would be just one more victim._
> 
> _She held her breath when he came into view, cape tousled by the breeze, body softly lit by the inherent faint glow ghosts had. The years had altered his form drastically; there was no way he could trick her the way he almost had when it all began. The tall, muscular_ monster _bore very little resemblance to_ her _Danny now. That was fine, it made it that much easier to hate him, for who he was, what he had done._
> 
> _"I know you're here somewhere, Valerie." He taunted again, unaware that she was no more than twenty feet from where he had landed. "Can't fight anymore, can you? You never **could** , so it's not as though it's a surprise."_
> 
> _She bristled silently, but remained still. It was a common trick, he was trying to bait her out into the open with his taunts. Her only strength was stealth; without that she knew he could kill her easily, and that he wouldn't waste a moment in doing so. As long as she kept her cool, he would not find her._
> 
> _It had been remarkably easy to reign in her temper after the shield fell. In a way, she no longer truly felt much of_ anything _. He had taken the joy from her life; and then loaded it with so much grief and sadness that she had become immune. The worded barbs that in the past would have merited a snappy retort no longer elicited more than a flicker of her old temper; and that more a memory, a shadow of the past that lay dead around her than any real emotion. There was only one thing she really felt anymore, above and beyond the hunger and thirst and exhaustion that she distantly knew were just as deadly as the ghost._
> 
> _Hate._
> 
> _He had taken everything else, the only thing he could not take from her was her hatred. She hated him with an intensity that defied description, a hate as deep as the ocean, as vast as the sky. It would have been disturbing had she thought about it, about the sheer intensity of her hatred. He was never far from her thoughts, she obsessed about what she would do to stop his madness. She was willing to give up her own life for him, in exchange for his death; she would go happily to her demise so long as he went with her._

The crackle of her wristband communicator snapped Valerie back to the present, shaking away the dark memories. She didn't need to worry about finding the most inaccessible of hiding places now; she just needed protection from the mundane dangers of the wastelands. She propped her jet sled against a boulder of concrete and glanced at her wristband.

            "Hey, Valerie?" It was Sam on the other end, a confused look on the goth ghost's face.

            "What's up?" Valerie's tone betrayed her taut nerves; had there been any word about _him_?

            "Danny and I heard an explosion earlier." Sam frowned. "Just the one though. Have you noticed anything... well, weird?"

            Valerie thought back. She had thought she'd heard a gunshot earlier, though nothing had been found. Had it been an echo through the portal of a blast in the Ghost Zone?

            "Nothing here... you guys are okay, right?" Valerie finally responded.

            "Oh yeah, I mean, the lair rattled pretty bad, but that's all. Tucker and Dora said they're looking into it right now, too." Sam's shrug was visible even on the tiny wristband screen.

            "Well, I'm doing a long range sweep into the Outlands, but keep me posted."

\---

            "Right. Talk to you later!" Sam set the chrome and green communication gadget down, glancing over at Danny. "Danny?"

            The quiet ghost didn't respond, he seemed distracted.

            "Danny!"

            "Huh-?" Danny snapped back to the present with a brief shake of his head. "Um... sorry. So Valerie's okay?"

            The goth nodded once. "She hasn't found anything either. I hope Tucker's okay."

            The worry about the royal geek drew a chuckle out of Danny. "I'm sure Tuck can take care of himself."

            An amiable silence fell over the pair. There was no doubt that the two ghosts were a couple, though they weren't nearly as open about it as some. There was no inclination toward making it official with a marriage the way Tucker had with Dora; they were just... comfortable... in one another's presence. An outside observer might go so far as to describe them as stuck in the first awkward stages of a high school romance; a possibly accurate assessment given the difficulty many ghosts had in moving beyond whatever obsessions had led to their ghostly existence. Danny's obsession was the way life was before the explosion a decade ago; and Danny was Sam's obsession.

            Sam looked at Danny for a long moment, a thoughtful frown creasing her features briefly. "Are you okay, Danny? You've been pretty out of it."

            "I have-?" Danny tried to look innocent, but Sam wasn't going to fall for the goofy space cadet routine. "I dunno. I'm... worried."

            "About _him_?" Sam hated the pained look on her friend's face whenever the subject came up, but there was no avoiding it.

            Danny shrugged. "I guess that, yeah. But I can't shake the feeling something really bad is happening. Maybe something worse than... him."

            "What makes you say that?" Sam quirked an eyebrow.

            Another shrug, a sheepish grin. "Maybe I'm just worrying about nothing. I almost thought I heard something earlier, like his voice, but I was probably imagining it. It's been tense since he showed up again, after all."

\---

            " ** _CAESAR SALAD!_** "

            It took Vlad a moment after his outburst to take stock of his lab. There had been a sound; no, a shockwave, and a fair portion of it had rattled through his ghost portal. That wasn't what had startled such an exclamation out of him; something else had stabbed at his consciousness.

            Or had it?

            As he sat back down in his comfy chair, he began to wonder if perhaps his mind had played a trick on him. Whatever had shot through the portal had been impressive, the shockwave disturbing lab equipment and making the entire building groan at the abuse. He was getting older, and he knew he was nowhere near the physical condition he'd been in his prime. That had to be it, he must have moved wrong and pinched a nerve. That would explain the pain that had shot down his spine; he moved wrong when he jumped at the shockwave.

            Yet why did he have such a feeling of impending doom?

            The billionaire took several calming breaths, ignoring his unease and getting to the tedious process of setting the lab back to rights. The quaking had toppled things off the work tables and spilled things across the floor. It would take him some time to clean it all up.

            "Vlad, you there?"

            A monitor in the wall lit up, drawing the ex-villain's attention to the red and black dragon on the screen.

            "Of course I'm here." The old man responded waspishly. "Where _else_ would I be?"

            "Vlad, I'm serious here. When did you last see Dan?" The dragon's expression was grim.

            "Him?" The question caught Vlad by surprise. "Why, he was here earlier today. We were watching the football game. The fool still thought Favre was an excellent player and an advantage for the Packers."

            "I don't care about the game. Did anything weird happen? Was he acting weird?" Tucker sounded quite worried, Vlad realized belatedly.

            "Weird? No." Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

            The dragon on the comm screen heaved a huge sigh. "I was supposed to meet up with him a few hours ago. He's missing."

            "Missing?" That had Vlad's attention, particularly in light of that apparent blast that rattled his house. "Would this have to do with any... _unusual_... activity in the Ghost Zone?"

            "I think so." Tucker responded glumly. "There was a huge explosion; rocked the castle pretty bad. Danny and Sam felt it, too. We haven't found anything yet though, which is weird. I thought maybe Dan was up to his old tricks again."

            "You know as well as I do that if that _were_ the case there would be more than a single explosion." Vlad snorted.

            "Yeah, that's why I'm worried. If he's missing, and there was a blast... why? I thought you'd know something." The royal geek sighed again. "I think I'm gonna have to tell the others then. Oh man, Valerie's gonna kill me!"

            Vlad couldn't help a sinister chuckle at the dragon's fretting. "If I recall, establishing a rapport with Dan _was_ originally **your** idea."

            Tucker hung up on him.

\---

            Several hours of searching had turned up nothing. No damage, no ghosts in a panic... and no Dan. Tucker was out of reasons to stall, and he was not looking forward to how his friends would react. The royal geek took a few deep breaths, mentally steeling himself, and entered the doorway to his friends' shared lair.

            "Sam? Danny?" He peered into the front room. "You guys here?"

            "Tucker! You guys find anything?" Sam was relaxing on one of the dark sofas floating in the front room and perked up the moment she spotted him.

            "Ur... nope." Tucker let himself in. "And.... I kinda need to talk to you and Danny about that."

            "About what?" Danny's head peered from the stairwell; apparently he'd been down in the 'lab' portion of the lair.

            "About D-... about _him_." Tucker cringed at the looks his two friends gave him.

            Danny joined Sam on one of the couches, the two giving Tucker confused and concerned looks. He remained standing and swallowed hard, trying to put his confession into words; and hoping they wouldn't flip out on him. Danny probably wouldn't react badly; the ghost would likely be disappointed, maybe hurt by Tucker's actions. No, if either of them was going to take the news badly, it was going to be Sam. For all her help in organizing rescue efforts over the past decade, the goth ghost had a loathing for Dan second only to Valerie.

            And he was most decidedly _not_ looking forward to telling _her_ about the situation.

            "Well... y'know how he's been back, but nobody's seen him?" Tucker said into the leaden silence. "Um... I kinda... I have. A lot."

            "You _what_?!" Sam exploded, springing to her feet.

            "Did he see you?" Danny yelped at the same time, still not quite getting what his friend was saying.

            "Yeeeeah. To both." Tucker decided the floor was particularly interesting. "The first time was after he first showed up, when I followed him."

            "Don't tell me you've been trying to hunt him down by yourself!" Danny yelped.

            "Danny, I'm crazy, not stupid." Tucker glanced at his friend. "I've... been meeting with him."

            " ** _WHAT?!_** " Danny and Sam both shouted in surprise.

            "How could you?" Sam demanded, anger flashing across her pale face. "After what he did! After he _killed Danny_!"

            "You should have told us, Tuck." Danny's expression was pained, clearly indicating the betrayal he felt. "So we could warn Val-"

            "Who could do... what, exactly?" Tucker cut his friend off, his own anger rising. "So she could throw her Patrol at him... to do what? Make him mad?"

            "Tucker-" Sam tried to get a word in edgewise, but the royal geek wasn't going to meekly accept their scorn without getting his fair say in.

            "No, let me finish, Sam!" Tucker interrupted her, earning an irate scowl from the goth. "Seriously, _think_ about it. If we tried to fight him, what would the end result be?"

            "Well, we might-" Danny paused. "... I mean, Val could-"

            "Valerie couldn't hurt him any better _now_ than she could a year ago!" Tucker exclaimed, voicing a truth they all _knew_ but never really wanted to admit to knowing. "There's nothing any of us could seriously do to stop him."

            "So you want us to just sit back and not even _try_?" Sam hissed. "You want us to just sit back while he destroys everything?"

            "No! That's not what I'm saying!" Tucker shot back, keeping a firm hold on his temper lest he accidentally transform in the middle of their living room. "What I'm saying is he decided _on his own_ that he's not gonna do that anymore, and picking a fight isn't going to help _keep_ him from going nuts again!"

            A charged silence descended over the room, Tucker and Sam leveling challenging glares at one another. In the past, it generally wasn't hard for Sam or Danny to get the techno geek to back down; but that was well in the past, and long before Tucker had taken on the responsibilities as the heir-apparent to the Mattingly castle. One doesn't command by being a pushover, after all; the experience of running the castle alongside Dora, and acting as the official liason between the real world and the Ghost Zone had given him the confidence he needed. And oh how he needed it then, staring down a clearly _furious_ Sam.

            It was Danny who finally stepped in after several long, tense moments.

            " _He_ decided what?" In the silence, the black haired ghost's soft voice sounded like a shout.

            "He told me himself." Tucker let his own expression soften as he addressed his friend. "That first time, when we fought him. He may have duplicated himself, but he _didn't attack_. Not once, despite having two very angry dragons trying to tear him to bits. I chased him down and we talked."

            "I'm not forgiving him." Sam crossed her arms, still shooting Tucker withering glares.

            "I'm not saying anybody has to forgive him." Tucker rolled his eyes. "Heck, I won't forgive him either. What I'm saying is we can't stop him by force, but he's decided on his own not to do that stuff anymore. I'm saying we need to _encourage_ that, just to keep him from going _back_ to those habits!"

            "He has a point, Sam." Danny admitted, refusing to meet Tucker's eyes. "But he's got something to do with that explosion earlier, doesn't he?"

            "I... don't know." Tucker admitted, pointedly ignoring the dark scowl from Sam. "I was supposed to meet with him today hours ago, and he's always on time. Probably because he doesn't have much else to do, but... he wasn't there. I waited around to see if he was just late, but he never showed."

            "He's probably off blowing something else up as we speak." Sam remarked acidly.

            "Then why just one explosion Sam? You guys know as well as I do that if he's gone back to old habits, it wouldn't just be one blast." Tucker countered. "I think... maybe something else happened, and he was involved."

            "Anyway, we do need to know where he is." Danny admitted. "That's why you finally told us, isn't it?"

            "Yeah." The royal geek sighed. "Dora and I have been looking since the blast, but since we haven't found anything.... honestly dude, I'm worried. With how powerful he is, what the heck made _him_ disappear?"

            "It'd serve him right!" Sam sniped.

            "Tucker's got a point, Sam." Danny reiterated. "What if it's something worse?"

            "That's why I need to expand the search. We have got to find him... or at least find out what happened." Tucker massaged the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Vlad didn't notice anything weird about him earlier today, either."

            "Oh, so the _fruit loop_ is in on it, to?" Sam remarked in a scathing voice.

            "Yes, Sam, he is." Tucker suspected it would be months before Sam forgave him for this, if ever. "He's been visiting with Vlad a lot, and earlier today they were watching a football game."

            That at least made Sam's expression shift briefly from anger to surprise. She probably was having a hard time imagining the archvillain and the fire-headed ghost engaging in such a ... _normal_... activity. To be honest, even Tucker had trouble with that one. Given Danny's wide-eyed expression, he simply couldn't compute the idea at all. Their expressions would have been funny had Tucker not been more concerned about the situation at hand.

            "You're going to have to tell Valerie." Danny remarked once he dismissed the football thing from thought. "He can make portals to and from the Ghost Zone. What if he's in the real world right now?"

            Tucker paled at that. He hadn't thought about that particular ability in the midst of his distraction. Things would only get worse if Valerie blundered across the ghost without warning. Even on good behavior, Dan harbored an obvious hatred for Valerie that bordered dangerously close to violence. From what the royal geek had been able to coax out of the ghost, Dan seemed to blame Valerie for... something. It would be like oil and fire if the ghost and the huntress blundered into each other somewhere.

            "I'd... better get going and do that." Tucker inched for the door. "Call me if you find anything!"

            "I can't believe him!" Sam blurted after Tucker left. "How can he be worried about that... that _monster_?!"

            Danny shrugged, lost in thought.

\---

            Valerie was enjoying the light of her small campfire as the late afternoon gave way to evening twilight. The day of flying had taken the edge off her anxiety, tense muscles finally starting to relax as she ate a light dinner.

            Until her ghost radar started pinging weakly, snapping her to attention as she doused the fire and jumped to her feet. Something had just slowly come into the device's range, and all that relaxation was gone in an instant. She didn't take to the sky on her jet sled, old habit made her tuck the device under one arm and creep toward the source while keeping under the cover of debris. It was getting dark, and she knew she would be hard to spot against the ground; whereas she'd be an easy target in the air.

            _Is it him? Is that... if it is, I swear I'll-!_ Valerie growled to herself as he clambered up a mound of smashed concrete. There was a shallow valley amid the ruins, the bottom of it blanketed by shadow, a featureless void. The first stars peeking out overhead did nothing to illuminate it.

            But the faintly glowing trail of green certainly did.

            It was Phantom, and he wasn't moving.


	8. Stirrings

**Stirrings**  
"You can’t get away with your crimes  
And you never will  
For you’ll have to pay the price  
And this time is near"  
_-"The Last Crusade" - Epica_ **  
**

            "Do you believe we actually stand a chance?"

            "Whether we do or not, we have little choice. Clockwork has disappeared and will not act. If we stand by and do nothing, then Maghnus will find _it_ and finish what he started so long ago."

            "If we can get to it first, we may well stand a chance." The apparent leader of the Observants stated solemnly, looking over the gathered force. "We do know where it is hidden, correct?"

            Several of the one-eyed ghosts at the front glanced nervously among themselves, suddenly unable to meet their leader's eye.

            "We... did." One finally spoke with uncharacteristic hesitation. "The location was lost due to Danny Phantom's unchecked rampage several years ago... and we have not yet been able to locate it again."

            Under different circumstances, seeing one of the dignified and wise Observants fall flat on his face in surprise would be extremely funny. However now it was simply another indication of how ill prepared they truly were. They had a considerable personal guard of ghosts skilled at combat, however this would be the first time in a very long time they had gone to battle themselves; and the first time ever against such a terrible opponent.

            "We know where he is, then?"

            "That much, we do know. There was a skirmish involving Danny Phantom; he calls himself Dan Plasmius now. He was able to do considerable damage to Maghnus' army before he was destroyed by the gauntlet."

            "It isn't enough. Maghnus does not need an army to spread his evil." The leader of the group mused. "But that means fewer ghosts for us to deal with as we try to take the gauntlet away."

\---

            Valerie blinked, not quite sure if she could trust her eyes. Surely it was some trick of the shadows, or some trick the ghost was playing. Several silent moments passed, the huntress unwilling to believe what she was seeing and not wanting to come out from under cover; the ghost below unwilling or unable to move. Valerie fished a pair of binoculars out of her pack and flicked the filter to night vision to get a better look at the ghost in the fading twilight.

            Even though the image through the binoculars wasn't perfect, it was suddenly obvious that it was no trick. The ghost was flat on the ground in a position that implied he'd been dragging himself when he collapsed; his path marked by an obvious trail of green ectoplasm. The only motion was the faint flickering of what remained of his flaming mane of hair; otherwise he was completely still.

            Completely vulnerable.

            Valerie eased herself out from behind the debris she'd been using to hide her position, and decided it was safe enough to fire up her jet sled. If it _was_ just a trap, she could still fly rings around the rest of the Patrol; and she could probably still give Phantom a good run if he attacked.

            There was no indication below that he was even aware of the noise as Valerie carefully piloted her board down the slope to get a better look at the fallen spook. She paused midair several feet away and waited, but there was still no response. Gun in hand, she finally landed the sled and closed the remaining distance on foot; probably the closest she'd been to the ghost without him trying to kill her.

            She almost didn't recognize him.

            The black and white jumpsuit was a mess of rags clinging to his body, the material looking torn and scorched all at once; the ghost's jagged cape was no more than a tattered scrap near his shoulders. His wild mane of flaming white hair was reduced to a few flickering bits that left much of his scalp bald and showing several injuries. In fact, he was one giant mess of injuries; burns and gashes oozing bright green.

            "What the-?" Valerie mused aloud, still stunned as her gaze was drawn toward a spread of bright _red_ across his lower body.

            She quickly looked away and felt her face burning from what that red was.

            Boxers. Red boxers, with white polkadots. The ghost's _underpants_.

            Valerie recovered her composure quickly though, and resumed surveying the damage. Up close it was clear why he hadn't responded to any of the noise. He was clearly beaten to within an inch of his life... or afterlife? From the short trail of green goo, she assumed he must have warped in nearby and then collapsed after dragging his mangled body only a handful of feet.

            "What the heck happened to you, ghost?" She growled, kicking him over onto his back to get a look at the rest of his injuries.

            There was no reaction to the additional abuse, and Valerie wasn't really expecting one. His front side was just as covered in injuries as his backside, green goo caking the remains of the jumpsuit. There was a particularly deep gash in the ghost's left shoulder, the wound oozing ectoplasm down an arm currently bent backward in a manner that would have made Valerie twinge in sympathy had it been anyone else.

            _Sympathy's too good for **him**_. Valerie growled to herself, grip tightening on her gun. Here was the source of her hatred, the target of her revenge for the past ten years; practically gift-wrapped and dropped at her feet. One shot and it would be over. One shot, and the nightmare that had plagued her sleep for the past several weeks would be gone and guaranteed never to arise again.

            "I've been waiting a long time for this." Valerie uttered into the deepening night, aiming the weapon at the ghost's head. "Good bye, and good-"

            "Valerie! NO!" A familiar form came flying down and planted himself firmly between the fallen ghost and the wicked maw of Valerie's weapon. "Don't shoot!"

            "Tucker?!" Valerie lowered her weapon in surprise. "Get out of the way!"

            "No, I can't let you do this!" The royal geek countered, staying between the huntress and the fallen ghost.

            "What are you talking about?" Valerie snarled. "Have you lost your mind?!"

            "Look, I can explain! Was Dan like this when you found him?" Tucker glanced over his shoulder and cringed at the other ghost's injuries.

            "Yeah, so? Now's my chance to finish things!" Valerie paused. "Wait, 'Dan?'"

            "That's his name, Valerie." Tucker forced himself to meet the huntress' confused and increasingly wary glare. "Dan Plasmius."

            "I don't care what he calls himself. After everything he's done, it's about time somebody puts him out of _our_ misery!" Valerie scoffed, raising her gun again.

            "Will you listen to me? I can't let you finish him off!" Tucker protested, one eye on that gun. "He knows something that we probably need to find out!"

            "Hah!" Valerie's laugh was cold. "What the heck would he know that would matter? He's just a monster out to kill everybody!"

            "Hello, pay attention! Has he fired a single shot at anybody since he got back from the past?" Tucker briefly considered telling the huntress he'd been meeting with Dan, and quickly thought better of it. "Aren't you at all worried about what _did_ this to him?"

            "Why should I care?" Valerie snapped petulantly. "Probably one of the other ghosts that hate his guts, too!"

            Tucker rubbed the bridge of his nose and adjusted his glasses. "Be realistic for a sec. Have ANY of us been able to even scratch him, never mind _this_?"

            ".... What's that matter?" Valerie retorted after a moment. "So some ghost came along and beat the-"

            "Some other ghost came along and completely overpowered the single most powerful guy in the entire Ghost Zone." Tucker cut the huntress off flatly. "Dan overpowered the ghost king with a lot of effort. Can you even imagine what it would take to do something like _this_ to Dan? And what that could possibly mean for the Ghost Zone and the real world?"

            "Any enemy of Phantom is a friend of mine." Valerie snorted.

            "We don't _know_ that!" Tucker threw his hands in the air in frustration. "Look, I live in the Ghost Zone now. I _know_ these things; a ghost powerful enough to rip Dan to bits is probably bad news for the rest of us! Dora and I haven't found anything, so Dan's our only lead on finding out about this new ghost!"

            "You want me to spare this b-" Valerie hissed, clenching her free hand into a fist as her grip tightened on the gun.

            "I'm not _asking_ you to spare him. Not entirely. Look, we just need to get him conscious enough to tell us what happened!" The royal geek interrupted again. "And shooting what's left of him in the head isn't going to help!"

            "I am _not_ playing nursemaid to this psychopath!" Valerie shrieked, thoroughly offended.

            "Then don't! Look, I called Vlad on my way here. He's the most knowledgeable about ghost stuff, and he should be arriving here via the Ghost Zone pretty soon." Tucker took a few calming breaths to try and ease his tension about dealing with Valerie. "You've got those high-tech ghost restraining tanks at Patrol headquarters, right? Stick him in one of those while he's out and let the old fruit loop handle waking him up!"

            "Why would _Vlad_ want to help this freak?" Valerie finally lowered her weapon, casting a vicious glare at Tucker.

            "Long story. Short version is we've been trying to keep him occupied so he doesn't decide to go back to that whole 'kill everything' deal." Tucker carefully glossed over the fact it had been his idea and that he'd been regularly meeting with the ghost. "But standing around here isn't going to do any good, so... back to base camp?"

            "I don't like it." Valerie scowled at the royal geek. " _I'm_ not going to carry him back."

            _Now she's just being immature._ Tucker refrained from rolling his eyes at Valerie's display, silently thankful the huntress wasn't going to be _completely_ irrational about the situation. "I can haul him back. You fly on ahead and get that restraining tank ready, kay?"

            "Whatever." Valerie declared with no good grace, starting up her jet sled and shooting Tucker a thoroughly poisonous glare. "But if he causes _any_ trouble, I'm coming after _you_ , ghost."

            Tucker repressed a shiver as the huntress took off. _That could have gone better. Or a whole lot worse. So Val's threatening to have my hide and Sam probably won't be civil for months, while Danny probably feels like I stabbed him in the back... It could be worse._ He got his own good look at Dan's injuries and repressed another shiver. _Assuming you even make it through, you better not do something that's gonna get_ me _in trouble. I'm already in enough on your behalf!_

            A quick shift to dragon form and the royal geek carefully scooped Dan's mangled form up in his claws, taking off at a slightly slower pace for Patrol HQ than Valerie had.

            "Man, sometimes I wonder if things would have been better if you'd never come back at all."

\---

            It was a scene of pure carnage. The Observants' personal guard had gone in first to deal with the veiled ghosts that were Maghnus' followers. The giant ghost himself had yet to appear, but the one-eyed ghosts knew he wouldn't likely sit the battle out. All their records indicated that the ghost king's older brother wasn't one to merely sit on the sidelines and let the underlings do the dirty work.

            Certainly not with such a terrible power at his command.

            "How is the battle proceeding?" The leader of the Observants asked, looking at the fight in the distance.

            "So far it seems our forces are evenly matched. If it was simply army against army, we could most likely win." One of the underlings reported.

            "But Maghnus has yet to reveal himself." Spoke another. "Our only chance will be to stun him long enough to remove the gauntlet, and we can expect to take heavy casualties in the effort."

            "You may **expect** to be felled **to the man** for your treasonous ways!" A huge voice boomed behind the gathered ghosts.

            The Observants spun around, eyes wide as a massive sword cut a shining arc through the air and neatly bisected any of the ghosts who couldn't get out of the deadly blade's path in time.

            "Quickly! As we planned!" The ringleader was one of those swift enough to evade the blow, quickly marshaling the rest to action.

            "You bothersome meddlers believe that scum such as yourselves possess the strength to resist **me**?" Maghnus sneered, the momentum from his great sword carrying the giant ghost through a pivot on one foot, preparing the next strike with deadly ease. "It is of no great difficulty to strike you **all** down with blade alone!"

            "Now!"

            The plan had looked good back at their Observatory. Elegant in its simplicity, not requiring elaborate plans or trickery. The plan was to mob the huge ghost en masse, more targets than he could handle all at once. If they could immobilize Maghnus' arm, they could seize the source of his terrible power and gain the upper hand.

            They didn't know that Dan had tried a very similar ploy to his disadvantage mere hours prior.

            The smaller ghosts swarmed Maghnus, all grabbing for his left arm. Proving nimble and entirely too swift for someone his size, the giant ghost spun and dodged through the mob, lashing out with both broadsword and mace. One unfortunate Observant managed to get past the weapons only to get speared by one of the ghost's wicked horns. Another managed to get his tiny green hands on the gauntlet, a cry of triumph erupting from lips presumably hidden within the one-eyed ghost's cloak.

            The cheer turned quickly into a startled cry as Maghnus simply raised his left arm and snapped it out to his side with the force of a whip crack. The unlucky Observant had his grip on the gauntlet torn loose as he tumbled through the air, shout cut off by a red beam of energy that fried the spook midair.

            "If you had chosen to wisely submit to that which I have commanded, you would be assured a place of comfort in the world I **shall** craft with my power!" Maghnus bellowed, blasting several more Observants. "Instead you shall **perish** at the hands of your own folly!"

            It was clear that the one-eyed ghosts were outclassed, and badly. Their massive gathering had in mere moments been cut nearly, and _literally_ in half by the giant ghost's sword and brutal power. Maghnus had yet to even use the gauntlet he was wearing. No bolts of silver light split the battlefield, the only silver to be seen was the wide blade of his sword as it flashed through the air with ruthless efficiency.

            "No..." The ringleader of the Observants gaped, eye wide with disbelief and just a hint of terror. "We can't... we have to..."

            "Hah! Is **this** what the mighty Watchers have become in the long years of my banishment?" Maghnus sneered, skewering another opponent on his giant sword. "Complacent and soft, incapable of doing **anything** without the aid of that slippery time fiend?"

            "Time fi- Clockwork!" The Observant leader backed away. "He has doomed us all!"

            "You insignificant flies were doomed from the beginning! Now **perish**!" Maghnus raised his sword, red ecto-energy playing across the blade's surface.

            "No-!"

            It took the remaining Observants a long, painfully silent moment to realize they weren't blasted into so much ectoplasmic slag. Just as the boldest dared to peek, a voice split the silence.

            "The one time _all_ you had to do was sit back, and observe... and you decide to step in personally." There was a decided trace of annoyance in the calm voice. "I'm certain you _hear_ as well as you _see_ , and I recall _telling_ you that I had already taken steps to resolve this problem."

            Maghnus was still there with his sword held high, the red energy frozen in an ominous coil about the weapon. The veiled ghosts and the Observants' guard stood still, as though they were statues carved to appear as soldiers locked in battle. Even the remains of the most-recently stricken ghosts hovered midair in various stages of destruction, as if someone had taken a snapshot of the scene and frozen it forever in time-

            "Clockwork!"

            "Yes. It's fortunate I already knew you would go against your own creed to try and stop Maghnus." The Master of Time had his arms crossed, a displeased scowl on his presently-youthful face. "I believe _you_ were the ones that made it so abundantly clear that there is no force on Earth or in the Ghost Zone that can compete with him."

            "What are you planning, Timekeeper?" The Observant leader finally recovered enough of his wits to confront Clockwork. "We've been searching for you in need of your powers to deal with this! We would not have had to act ourselves had you been there to perform your _duty_!"

            "Duty?" One eyebrow lifted sardonically as Clockwork's form shifted from child to old man. "That's where you've been mistaken. Our goals are often... similar... enough that going along with your orders has been in keeping with my goals. That is all."

            "Then what are you planning?" The Observants demanded, the realization that the Master of Time had merely been _humoring_ them all this time sitting poorly with them. "You claim you have plans and plans, yet there is nothing to show for it! No force in either the Ghost Zone or on Earth can stop Maghnus and his insanity!"

            "Indeed, there is no force in _either_ the Ghost Zone or the human world." Clockwork shifted again, this time to his more handsome middle-aged form and raised his staff. "However, I would suggest those of you remaining scatter and go into hiding. You've attracted Maghnus' attention, and he bears a grudge to your predecessors. As I cautioned before, sit back and _observe_. The future is in... _good_ hands."

            "That tells us noth-"

            "TIME IN!"

            With a flash, the survivors were back in the great hall of their Observatory. The vast chamber was barely a quarter of the way full, a stark visual indication of how badly they'd fared against Maghnus. With their numbers so badly reduced, there was no way they could hope to change the course of events. They had been lucky to have gotten away, and that due only to Clockwork's meddling.

            "What do we do now?"

            Their leader heaved a sigh. "I fear all we _can_ do is trust Clockwork and whatever scheme he is playing at. Though I dislike admitting to it, he is right in that we should take cover if any of us are to survive this disaster. It is in our own records that the Watchers before us assisted in toppling Maghnus in the past., surely he remembers that."

            The one time the Observants actually _wanted_ to step in and do something, and there was nothing they _could_ do.

\---

            The Amity Park Ghost Patrol headquarters was a scene of barely organized activity, very near to panic. First the Commander returned early from her long range patrol ordering people to ready the biggest and most sturdy of the lab's restraining tanks; and then a massive ghost dragon flies in to land outside the building bringing in the battered body of only the most feared spook in the entire world. Most people knew Tucker's normal form; however there was panic from the general public at the sight of the multi-hued dragon flying in low enough to buffet those on the ground with the wake of his passage. It was fortunate that they were focused more on the royal geek and did not notice what he was carrying.

            It was with no small degree of disgust that Valerie and Paulina helped Tucker haul Dan's unconscious form to the lab and into the restraining tank. The huntress took some minor consolation from the fact she wasn't the only one winching down the restraints on Dan more than was strictly necessary; Paulina was making sure the fire-headed ghost was similarly winched down.

            "Guys, he's beat to a pulp." Tucker dared to speak into the angry silence. "And in one of the most advanced ghost-containment cells in the world. Do you really need to stra-aah... Y'know, I'll just leave you ladies to it."

            If looks could kill, Tucker was pretty sure he'd be dead... _again_. So he opted to remain outside the unit while the girls finished tying Dan down. The tank itself was an ominous looking device, most of it in the form of a rounded box built of ectoplasm-tempered glass and heavily reinforced. There was an examining table that had been brought in and bolted down; the table itself another ghost-restraining device using bonds that a ghost couldn't simply phase through. Various equipment lined the exterior of the cell, Tucker knew it was used to analyze the contents of the chamber.

            Right now, on the one to ten ghost power scale, Dan was barely registering at all. A meager two-point-four, when usually he should have registered at least a solid nine and probably even higher than that. Out of all the ghosts that Tucker knew personally, the only one to rank lower than two-point-four was... Danny. Sam registered a solid five, and Tucker knew in dragon form he rated a high seven; but Danny ranked a measly one-point-five. Barely enough strength to even manifest as a ghost.

            _Whatever did this to Dan..._ Tucker mused with a frown. _I'm not sure I even want to know who or what could do that._

            Much as the royal geek did not want to bring Dan to the Patrol headquarters, he knew that there would have been _no_ way he could convince Valerie to let the fire-headed ghost get away. He knew obsession; it was an intrinsic part of a ghost's being. Yet the obsession he had seen Valerie exhibit in regards to Dan...

            _You know, I'm glad she's_ not _a ghost._

            "There. Even if he wakes up, he's not getting away!" Valerie growled, stepping back from the restraining table to survey her handiwork.

            There wasn't actually any promise that the tank could hold a ghost of Dan's strength; however in his condition it was highly unlikely he would be able to break out any time soon. No one in the Patrol or attached to the organization's lab actually knew how to _fix_ an injured ghost, however; all they could do was wait for Vlad to get there, and Valerie hated waiting.

            "Valerie, he's not even _conscious_." Tucker rolled his eyes at the huntress' tone. "Don't you think you're being a liiiiittle overki-"

            A low groan interrupted the techno geek, bringing the entire lab slamming to a silent halt as all eyes turned to the restraining table and to face of the ghost tied down to it. Valerie's gun was out and ready even before the others registered the source of the sound; a moment later Paulina had her beam cannon trained on the spook as well.

            Red eyes stared blankly at the roof of the restraining tank, their usual ghostly glow hazed over still much like a sleeper just rousing from slumber.

            Dan was awake.

\---

            "You cannot hide from me **forever** , insolent slime!" Maghnus raged, furious that his victims had literally vanished in the blink of an eye. "I care not what allies you seek, what impudent fools dare align themselves with you; not even that cryptic Chronos can stand against **me**!"

            To say the giant ghost was angry would be an understatement. He _knew_ precisely how those egomaniacal one-eyed ghosts had escaped. That crafty clock keeper had slipped in and gotten the Observants out in the stillness between one moment and the next; the one thing Maghnus could not destroy even with his great power. Time itself remained beyond his grasp, the only edge his enemies had.

            Scowling into the distance, the great ghost saw motion. A solitary ghost of a decent size, visibly blue even at a distance. A slow smile cut across Maghnus' pale mask of a face as he slung his huge sword into its scabbard across his back. That flame-headed ghost had been useless for information; Maghnus had to scoff at the thought that his younger brother Pariah had seemingly been cut down at the hands of that fellow. Much as Maghnus wanted to simply raise his left arm and strike anyone and everyone down, that was only half of his ambition.

            He needed information if he was going to accomplish the other half of it. Destruction was merely the means to an end, and not the end itself. Perhaps that distant speck would be able to provide it. With a wicked grin the massive ghost took off for that possible clue.

            As he drew nearer the blue speck resolved itself into a ghost of a reasonably large size. A blue dragon, clearly searching for something.

            " **HALT!** " Maghnus bellowed as he got within striking range of the beast. "I demand you surrender to your lord and master **now** , lest I cut you down this moment, beast!"

            Dora knew she was in trouble.


	9. Discord and Confusion

**Discord and Confusion**  
"You have taken away the trust,  
You're the ghost haunting through her heart.  
Past and present are one in her head,  
You're the ghost haunting through her heart."  
_-"Restless" - Within Temptation_ **  
**

            "He's awake!" Paulina yelped, her weapon trained on the ghost bound to the restraining table.

            "Dan!" Tucker decided to brave the risk of being shot to push past Valerie into the restraining tank.

            Contrary to Paulina's theory, "awake" wasn't really the proper term to describe Dan's state of attention. Sure, his eyes were open and he seemed to be conscious; however he didn't seem to be entirely aware of his surroundings. Or that he was currently Valerie's captive.

            Tucker was pretty sure Dan wouldn't be so calm about the situation if he was really aware of that bit of information. If anything, the fire-headed ghost seemed oblivious to his surroundings; perhaps even delirious. It seemed a likely explanation; Dan's complexion was nearly as white as his hair, and his injuries were steadily making the ghost's condition worse. If Dan was aware of anything, it would have to be pain.

            And perhaps whatever had caused the fire-headed ghost so much of it.

            "Hey, c'mon, say something!" Tucker would have prodded the semi-aware ghost if he thought it would have helped.

            "Nng..." Dan groaned, struggling weakly against his bonds, his face contorted in pain.

            "Stay with it!" Tucker urged the ghost, hoping to get some information out of the spook. "What the heck happened?"

            "Tuck-?" Apparently the sound of the royal geek's voice relaxed the fire-headed ghost, for his struggling relaxed.

            "Yup, you're-" Tucker paused before he could glibly tell Dan that he was safe, glancing at the twitchy women behind him. "... Not in immediate danger."

            "Ghost.... Mag-" Dan's voice slurred badly, the words barely decipherable. "That... weird power-"

            "Weird power?" Tucker quirked an eyebrow. "Who was it? Who?"

            Leaden silence lay heavily over the room; Dan had slipped back into unconsciousness. Tucker cringed, he could practically feel the heat of Valerie's glare boring twin holes in his back.

            "Fat lot of help that was." She spat. "Just a whole lot of cryptic nonsense!"

            "You heard him though!" Tucker was quick to counter, not trusting the huntress to stick to her extremely reluctant agreement about not putting the ghost out of his misery. "It was some ghost with a weird power!"

            "So?" Valerie seemed unimpressed.

            "So?" Tucker repeated, incredulous at the huntress and her sheer bullheadedness. "There's a ghost out there with some strange power that was able to beat this guy down. Some ghost that's got to be more powerful than the Ghost King was a decade ago! And I _know_ you remember what a fiasco _that_ was, Valerie!"

            Her eyebrow twitched, indicating that Tucker's comment had managed to hit a nerve. "So what do you want me to do about it?"

            "Pretty simple." Tucker checked to make sure he wasn't directly in anyone's line of fire. "Wait for Vlad to get here to patch this guy up-"

            "So he can just bust on out and-" Valerie huffed angrily.

            "Don't look at me like that! I didn't say Vlad was gonna make Dan good as new!" Tucker protested with no small degree of annoyance. "Just enough so we can get some coherent _answers_ out of him!"

            "Well, so nice of you to lay out such a _heartwarming_ welcoming for your financial backer."

            Tucker mouthed a silent thanks for Vlad's timing as all in the room glanced toward the ghost portal, where Vlad had just emerged; a slightly annoyed looking Sam and Danny helping carry some equipment behind him.

            Ten years living as a hermit hadn't been kind to the once tall and sturdy billionaire. Since he'd come out of hiding, Vlad had cleaned up well enough; a new suit and careful grooming could make even the wizened old hermit exude an air of dignity and wisdom. Still, not even the fanciest of suits could hide the man's skinny, almost frail figure; nor could the green and gold decorated cane hide his limp.

            "Took you long enough, Vlad." Tucker raised an eyebrow at the annoyed looks of his friends. _Can't really blame them... at least they've got the sense to realize we need to get answers out of Dan!_

            "Yes, well as soon as I learned that I was needed to play nursemaid to a ghost, I had to gather the equipment necessary." Vlad responded dryly, shrugging off the irate glares of Valerie and Paulina. "Now then, perhaps we can dispense with the usual _pleasantries_ so I can deal with the issue at hand?"

            _A decade living as a hermit sure hasn't dulled his sarcasm any._ Valerie noted sourly to herself. "Yeah, he's in the tank."

            "Of course." Vlad glanced back at the two ghosts that had ensured his safe passage through the Ghost Zone from his Wisconsin home. "If you would be so kind as to set that equipment down near the tank, Daniel, Samantha; it would be much appreciated."

            If the seething looks from the aforementioned ghosts had any impact, Vlad didn't show it as he slid between Patrol members to get to the restraining tank's door. Paulina made room for the billionaire while Valerie bombarded the man with withering looks that had all of no visible effect. Vlad flashed his former pawn a winning smile before he looked at Dan.

            _That_ at least had an effect.

            "Ginger snaps!" Vlad yelped, taking in the sight of Dan's mangled form. "And he was in this condition when you found him, Valerie?"

            "Pretty much." The huntress retorted.

            "He's gotten worse since we found him." Tucker filled in, more willing to make himself useful.

            "Wow, he _is_ messed up." Sam observed from above the tank, peering through the tinted glass.

            _She doesn't have to sound so cheerful about it._ Tucker complained to himself.

            "I see..." Vlad trailed off in thought, moving alongside the table Dan was strapped to while taking stock of the damage. "I'm glad I brought as much equipment as I did. It's a wonder he's held himself together as much as he has."

            "In English, Mr. Masters?" Paulina's tone was just barely civil.

            "Spit it out, Vlad." Valerie's wasn't.

            "What I mean-" The billionaire sounded distinctly condescending. "Is that with how badly he's been maimed, it's astounding he hasn't turned into an unrecognizable puddle of green goo. It's similar to problems I had years ago with my cloning experiments."

            "Ew." Paulina commented, making a face at the thought.

            "'Ew' indeed." Vlad continued dryly. "With the clones, they would devolve into ectoplasmic goo after relatively little damage or exertion of their powers. My research would indicate that the same holds true for all ghosts. If you beat them up enough, they destabilize and cannot maintain their form. Essentially, they die."

            "Okay, that's creepy to know." Sam raised an eyebrow from her aerial vantage.

            Vlad nodded absently as he sorted through the equipment he'd brought along, continuing his explanation. "The amount of damage required varies widely. A stronger ghost is both more difficult to damage in the first place; and is generally possessed of such a great level of obsession that it can maintain itself with very little power once it is damaged."

            "So how's that apply to _this_ -" Valerie gestured at the ghost on the restraining table with her gun. "-monster?"

            "The very short version, my dear-" Vlad grinned at the huntress' irate scowl. "-is that the reason Dan appears unconscious is that he has been very nearly torn apart, molecule by molecule. It's likely taking everything he has just to keep himself barely _stable_. And he won't be sharing anything with us until he's stabilized and has recovered enough strength to remain stable without having to focus entirely on _not_ going to gooey green pieces."

            "And how long's that going to take?" Tucker asked before Valerie could cut in with another harsh invective.

            "Without any help, it's _not_ going to happen." The former arch-villain declared flatly. "If his condition has, as you claimed, deteriorated since he was found, it's apparent that he's fighting a losing battle. With my assistance, however..."

            Vlad left the statement unfinished as he found the device he was looking for; a wide wand-like device vaguely reminiscent of a hand-held metal detector. He frowned as he waved the device across Dan's prone form, the gadget beeping loudly as it passed over the giant gash in the ghost's shoulder and other injuries.

            "It seems I arrived without much time to spare." Vlad noted quietly, an unreadable expression on his face. "Am I correct to assume, Daniel, Samantha, Valerie; that none of you have any desire to assist?"

            "I think you already know _that_ answer, Vlad." Valerie snapped.

            "Hey, we helped you get here, I think that's plenty of help." Sam noted icily.

            "I'm not really keen on helping save the guy that killed me, y'know." Danny agreed softly.

            "Well then, I'm sure you all have _better_ things to do than hang around here." Vlad retorted. "It's the middle of the night and I don't need you hanging around peeking over my shoulder while I work."

            The cantankerous declaration seemed to break the spell over the room. Patrol members scurried back to their duties, the lab emptying quickly of all but a few people and the posted guard at the portal.

            "I have a meeting with the planning commission and Undergrowth in a few hours anyway. I need some sleep before then." Paulina spared the restraining tank one last long look before she excused herself.

            "Just make him well enough to spit out some answers, Vlad." Valerie ordered, also turning to leave. "I've got my own business to get to."

\---

            _This can't be good._ Dora swallowed nervously, realizing at a glance that even in dragon form she wouldn't stand a chance against the wild looking ghost that had come after her.

            She halted her flight as had been demanded, not speaking. Maybe the giant specter would mistake her for an unintelligent animal ghost and leave in search of a sentient target. The spook approached swiftly, the giant standing just about level with the dragon. The red-haired ghost bore an uncomfortable resemblance to the Ghost King from years ago; a thought that did nothing to soothe Dora's nerves.

            "Speak, beast!" He demanded, gesturing with his armored hand at Dora. "For it is apparent that you are capable of such! No lack-wit wyrm adorns itself with pretty gold baubles that are clearly the works of human craft!"

            Dora's thoughts raced as the princess considered her options. Staying silent wasn't working. She doubted she could prevail in a fight; nor was she fast enough to flee. She had a hunch that this ghost was the reason for that explosion earlier, and for Dan's mysterious disappearance.

            With a silent thanks for over a millennia of practice at coming across as harmlessly subservient, Dora shifted down to her normal form. If she could fool the ghost into thinking she was harmless and not worth violence, perhaps she could find out some useful information.

            "My apologies-" Dora forced herself not to glare up at the ghost. "m'lord."

            "Ahah!" The red-haired spook guffawed, apparently pleased with the change. "That is the **proper** way for the denizens of the astral plane to address their rightful eternal lord!"

            _Who is this egomaniac?_ Dora thought to herself, choosing her next words carefully lest she anger the spook. "I am terribly ashamed, m'lord; but I fear I haven't a name to put to Your Majesty."

            So it was a formal and teeth-grindingly humble way of asking, "Who the heck _are_ you, anyway?"

            "So the spirits of this day have **forgotten** over the long ages of my imprisonment?" The ghost boomed, scowling. "And the Watchers have not taken it upon their **inept** selves to ensure that knowledge was kept?"

            "I'm terribly sorry, m'lord." Dora forced a helpless sounding tremble into her voice. "It must have been a very long time... I do not know anything of these Watchers you speak of, nor this knowledge they were supposed to share."

            "Well, none of this realm need worry about **their** incompetent isolation a moment longer!" The ghost declared. "Have you not heard the name Maghnus, hailed as Lord of the Dark, as a **GOD** to all of this flawed world's existence?"

            _I hadn't thought it possible. There's a ghost in the Ghost Zone who is a bigger blowhard than my brother was!_ Dora wisely kept her observation to herself. "This is the first I've heard of your name, Lord Maghnus. Though some books in the castle have mentioned a ki-"

            " **Castle**?" Maghnus cut her off. "Lead me to this castle, dracolich! For my traitorous brother has seen to the destruction of **my** citadel, and I have need of a **new** stronghold  from which to decree my reign!"

            _Who's he calling a zombie dragon?_ Dora huffed to herself. _...Oh dear. I probably shouldn't have mentioned the castle. This is bad._

\---

            "I don't suppose you've found out anything as to what _caused_ this, have you?" Vlad inquired of the only one in the room who would so much as look in his direction.

            "He woke up for a few seconds before you got here, Vlad." Tucker shrugged, handing off equipment to the billionaire. "Dude said something about a ghost with a weird power, and he conked out again before anybody could ask about it."

            "A weird power?" Vlad raised an eyebrow, a thoughtful frown hidden under his surgical mask while he worked on Dan. "If I recall trivia regarding ghostly artifacts of power correctly..."

            "Somehow Dan got more powerful than Pariah, even when the Ghost King had the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage." Tucker filled in, recalling that ultimately failed gamble from years ago. "I think somehow Dan got his hands on them."

            "So it's not that, then." Vlad mused, making a face as he took a surgical needle threaded with some sort of glowing green thread to the ghost's torn shoulder. "Whoever controlled both was supposed to obtain limitless power."

            Tucker decided he didn't like the distant look of greed on the billionaire's face. "Not that limitless, was it?"

            "No, I suppose not." Vlad sighed, moving on from the stitches and changing the green cylinder connected to what the man had half-jokingly called life-support equipment. "That's the fifth canister already. It's a good thing I saved so many years' worth of them."

            "What the heck are those, anyway?" Tucker quirked an eyebrow, thinking the things looked familiar.

            "Filtrators from my ghost portal." Vlad chuckled quietly at some old memory. "Just one filters a great deal of ectoplasmic matter from the portal over the span of several months. For lack of a better option, I thought to use them as a ghostly IV supplement. Fortunately it appears to be working."

            "You've got _no_ idea what the heck you're doing, do you?" Tucker asked flatly.

            "Barely a clue." Vlad admitted. "I've never had to mend a wounded ghost before."

            Tucker shrugged, in no place to criticize the older man. The royal geek had been surprised when he realized that he was fairly comfortable in the presence of his best friend's arch-nemesis. He would never say so aloud for fear of Sam's wrath, but Tucker suspected it was a case of plain maturity. Sam and Danny seemed almost mentally locked in as teenagers, while responsibility had forced the techno-geek to grow up and look at things from a more objective angle. Whereas Vlad was already a mature, if irrational adult when he was Danny's nemesis; and the past decade had forced him to grow past his almost childish greed and irrational mentality.

            Barely a clue or not, Dan was looking a little better thanks to the treatment. His complexion had started to recover its normal blue shade, and the ecto-reader on the restraining tank had already climbed to nearly four.

            "Oh! I should call Dora and let her know we found Dan." Tucker slapped a fist in his open palm, quickly digging his phone out of some hidden pocket in his clothes.

            Vlad glanced over from where he was working, raising an eyebrow at the younger ghost's expression as it shifted from relaxed to a concerned frown. "Is something the matter?"

            "She's not answering..." Tucker murmured.

\---

            _Playing nursemaid to that... that **monster**!_   Valerie kicked a stray rock out of her path, the fragment shattering the broken remains of a window that hadn't been totally smashed when the building toppled over years ago.

            She was furious, and had taken off obstinately to resume her interrupted patrol. In reality, she couldn't stand being in the same building as that ghost. Any of the ghosts, really; she was furious with Tucker for having apparently taken the fire-headed ghost's side in matters. How could he, after what that monster had done to Danny years ago? To everyone, both in Amity Park _and_ the Ghost Zone?

            The shattering of glass was short lived and entirely unsatisfactory as an outlet for the huntress' anger. She was finally getting something of a normal life cobbled together from the shambles _he_ had left it in, and he had to go and show up and plunge that tentative new reality into chaos _again_!

            She paced the ruined street, yelling her frustration and pitching rocks into the few intact panes of glass she found. When there was no more glass left to smash, the rocks were flung into empty windows; eliciting hollow clatters of concrete against concrete and the occasional crystalline ring of struck metal.

            "How could they-" She growled into the silent air. "He _needs_ to be wiped off the face of the planet, that's what he needs!"

            Dwelling on the situation wasn't helping her temper any. If anything the huntress was thinking herself in circles, only making her mood worse. _He_ was back, the monster responsible for the wreckage around her; for the death of Danny, of her father, of so many people she had and hadn't known. Though she was loathe to admit it, there wasn't anything she could _do_ about it, either. She hated the grating feel of the thought: _My weapons can't hurt him._

            _My weapons can't hurt him. **I** can't hurt him._

            Another shout of frustration and a few gun blasts into the side of one of the derelicts lining the street helped a little bit. It was a poor substitute for shooting the ghost, but at least the empty buildings _could_ be damaged, and no harm done, right? Valerie occupied herself until a lucky beam blast lit a hollow building's interior, the blast apparently striking the building's unstable support.

            The huntress ran as the unstable building creaked and groaned from the extra abuse, collapsing on itself in a cloud of choking dust. Suddenly shooting decrepit buildings didn't seem like such a good outlet for Valerie's frustration. Coughing from the dust in the air, she hopped onto her jet sled and took off for another section of the ruin.

            What could she do about Phantom... no, _Dan_? So the jerk had a name. At least he hadn't simply elected to call himself Danny. Not all of Tucker's reasoning would have kept her from putting a blast between the ghost's closed eyes if he'd further sullied Danny's good name.

            That was a pleasant thought, and Valerie let herself indulge in the mental image. The ghost helpless before her, unable to stop her.

            _"N-no! I'm sorry! I'll never do it again-!"_ He would plead, red eyes wide in panic, trembling at the business end of her ecto-cannon. _"Please don't-!"_

 _"I want you to know, Dan."_ She would lean over the gun, whispering the final taunt so low that only he would hear it. _"I'm going to_ **enjoy** _this."_

_"NooOOO **OOO** -!"_

            And it would be over. He would be dead by her hands, her vengeance complete.

            "Valerie!"

            She snapped out of her daydream at the sound cracking over her wristband. Annoyed by the interruption, she glanced at the tiny screen and activated the visual. It was Tucker on the other end, the royal geek looking almost pale beneath his ghostly green complexion.

            "What is it?" She snapped.

            "Valerie, it's-" Tucker's voice was strained. "It's Dora!"


	10. Call to Action

**Call to Action**  
"The shadows of the night  
Are unleashed again  
Where their greed begins  
The end is near."  
_-"The Gatekeeper" - Within Temptation_ **  
**

            "Dora?" It took Valerie a moment to process what Tucker was babbling.

            "She just got here and there's some ghost, he wants something from Dan and the castle's been-" The royal geek blathered in an obvious combination of relief and panic.

            "Tucker, slow down!" The huntress barked, shoving her musing about Dan's fate aside to focus on the latest development.

            "Look, just get back here quick, okay? It's complicated." Tucker blurted out, closing the connection on his end.

            Valerie glowered at her wristband. She really didn't want to go back, not while she knew Dan was still being tended to by Vlad. Still, her duties as Patrol Commander called, and she wasn't one to shirk those duties. Somehow the fire-headed ghost was involved as well, and that alone was reason enough to find out what was going on at headquarters.

            She took to the sky despite her reservations, heading back to the bright glow of the new city.

\---

            "Okay, Dora, deep breaths." Sam and Danny had commandeered one of the meeting rooms in the patrol headquarters to set the dragon princess up in while they tried to get her calmed down. "And start from the beginning."

            The princess had caused quite the commotion when she dove through the portal looking for all the world like a refugee waking from nightmare. Tucker had all but pounced his wife with relief; but that relief had been short lived when they first made some sense out of Dora's panic.

            "I was looking for Dan." She began shakily. "But-"

            Valerie slipped into the room, glowering at no one in particular. "Okay, I'm here. What's going on?"

            "Looks like Tucker was right that whatever beat _him_ -" Danny gestured down to the lab where Dan was still being tended. "-is bad news for the rest of us."

            Valerie got a good look at Dora, quirking one eyebrow at the ghost princess. She looked terrible; not injured or otherwise harmed, but certainly stressed. _What the heck happened?_

            Dora's next statement answered that.

            "This ghost calling himself Maghnus appeared, and made me take him to our castle. He has such terrible power, it was hideous!" The princess shivered. "He took over as though it were nothing!"

            "But he let you escape?" Sam asked.

            Dora nodded wearily. "He told me to find Dan and deliver a message. Or else."

            Valerie's glare darkened at the news. "What message is this?"

            "I'm not sure what to make of it..." The princess admitted. "He said, and I quote, 'Tell that weak fool to return to me that which is rightfully mine that he surely has stolen away from my traitorous brother!' .... And then he finished destroying the rest of the castle guards."

            Everyone in the room exchanged baffled looks at that.

            "Something Dan stole from this guy's brother?" Tucker frowned.

            "Why don't we just hand Dan over to him and be done with it?" Valerie muttered.

            "Uh, Valerie, normally I'd agree with you on this one." Sam crossed her arms in thought. "But this guy DID just take over Tucker and Dora's home. Somehow I don't think just handing the psychopath over is going to make this guy go away. Even if Tucker knifed all his _friends_ in the back by _helping_ the jerk."

            "More importantly, who's this Maghnus guy's brother, and what the heck does he want from Dan?" Tucker paced at the head of the conference table, wincing at Sam's acidic remarks. _I'm never living it down, am I?_ "I don't think Dan actually has any belongings. When you first found him, Val, did he have anything?"

            "Just his boxers." The huntress snorted derisively. "Red with white polkadots all over 'em."

            The others in the room paused to look at Valerie oddly.

            "What?" She asked after a long silence.

            "You know, Val, that's kinda creepy." Danny spoke up. "That you know all about his underwear."

            "Yeah, that's something I could have gone the rest of eternity without knowing." Sam made a face.

            "His suit was blasted to bits showing it for anybody to see when I found him!" Valerie protested hotly. " _Tucker_ saw the jerk's underwear!"

            "Yeah, but I didn't _memorize_ it." The royal geek countered.

            "Look, it stood out against all that black and white, okay?" The huntress hissed warningly. "Can we stay on _topic_?"

            "Indeed." Dora agreed, voice still shaky. "We know nothing about Maghnus or what exactly it is he wants."

            "Or if Dan even _has_ it." Tucker sighed.

            "Well hasn't Vlad been busy putting him back together?" Valerie grumbled. "Isn't that ghost awake yet?"

            "Valerie, he was beat to death." Tucker tried not to sound _too_ annoyed at the huntress and her continued single-mindedness. "Vlad's got him stabilized, but it's probably going to take some time before he wakes back up."

            "Maghnus also mentioned Watchers." Dora frowned in thought as she tried to recall everything about her encounter with the giant. "And that they should have made sure that everyone still knew who the _great_ Maghnus, Lord of the Dark was."

            "Wait, did you say 'dark'?" Danny suddenly snapped to attention. "Like... Pariah Dark? The Ghost King?"

            That brought the room screeching to a halt as the implications set in.

            "That... makes an awful lot of very unpleasant sense." Dora admitted. "But I have never heard of the Ghost King having a brother."

            "And nobody's heard of these Watcher guys, either." Tucker mused aloud.

            "So we've got two things to figure out while we wait for _him_ to wake up." Sam counted off. "One, find out who this Maghnus is and what the heck he's about. Two,  find out about these Watchers and why they didn't warn anybody."

            Awkward silence fell over the gathering as they contemplated the goth ghost's points.

            "Clockwork."

            Danny's soft voice sounded almost like a shout in the otherwise silent room, all eyes turned to the mild ghost.

            "What about him?" Valerie raised an eyebrow.

            "He released Pariah on behalf of everyone in the Ghost Zone right?" Danny ran his fingers through his mop of black hair nervously. "To stop Dan. He knows a lot, maybe we should ask him about Maghnus and these Watchers?"

            "Hey, good thinking!" Tucker brightened. "Think you and Sam can go find him for us?"

            Tucker knew he could probably find the clock tower about as fast as his friends, but he didn't want to leave Dan alone in Valerie's care with only Vlad looking out for the injured ghost. Sending Sam and Danny would also keep the two most vocal opponents to not finishing Dan off split up so they couldn't amplify one another. Sam was nearly as irrational as Valerie, and the royal geek didn't need Valerie convincing Sam that Dan was no further use to them. If this Maghnus was such a threat, Dan's full power was probably a necessary and vital asset.

            _Yeah, Valerie realizing that is about as likely to happen as Vlad wearing a dress._

            "Be careful to avoid the castle." Dora sighed. "He has an army occupying it now."

            "Right. Sam's got the phone, so we'll call if anything happens." Danny offered the princess a wan smile before he and Sam phased through the floor to the lab.

\---

            "How can you be so calm about all this?" Sam demanded of her friend as the two ghosts passed the restraining tank where Vlad was still working on Dan.

            Danny shrugged as they neared the Ghost Zone portal. "You guys only saw him when he was destroying stuff, right?"

            "As if he did anything _else_?" Sam retorted.

            Danny's long silence following the statement drew the goth's gaze over to his intense frown. She knew he'd always carry some measure of guilt for the destruction, though she and Tucker had both repeatedly reassured him that it wasn't his fault.

            "He's not mindless, Sam." Danny spoke at last, slowly as though the words were treacherous. "None of us may like it, but he had _some_ reason for everything."

            "I don't care _what_ reason he had." Sam glared into the distance as the two flew onward through the inky darkness of the Ghost Zone toward where they knew Clockwork's tower was.

            Danny shook his head and remained silent. _Maybe I_ am _the only one that caught him with his guard down in all that time_.

            The long years it had taken him to manifest as a ghost himself after his gruesome demise were mostly a haze of monotony, punctuated by a scant handful of moments that stuck out. Ten years had been a very long time to be all alone, and the black-haired ghost knew the experience had irreversibly changed him. He couldn't fault Sam or Tucker for never visiting him; they'd had no way to know he was there, bound to the grave site until he had gathered the strength to manifest himself properly.

            And Valerie had come. Not often; Danny could count the number of times she had visited on a single hand with fingers to spare, but she had come. That first time, Vlad had brought her. He'd only been dead for a little more than a year then; barely cognizant of where he was and what had happened to him. It was her voice that had roused him to awareness.

            Or rather, what she had said.

>             _"I'm so sorry, Danny. I doubt you can hear me now, but I'm so sorry." Contrary to what she must have thought, her voice though soft was clear to him above the murmuring of the breeze. He could hear the deep grief in a voice worn raw from weeping. "I was an idiot, I didn't mean to be so cruel, Danny. This is all my fault. I broke my promise, and you suffered because of it._ "
> 
>             _His vision, if it could even be called that, was hazy and unfocused; as though trying to see through cloudy water. He knew who it was, it was Valerie; it was her reaction to his secret that had sent him fleeing to Wisconsin. She had promised not to freak out on him; yet despite that promise she had reacted poorly. Distantly he thought he should be mad at her; if she hadn't scared him away when he had trusted her, perhaps none of this would have happened._
> 
> _"Can you see me now, Danny? Pretty pathetic, huh?" He heard her voice catch on the admission, followed by a sniffle and a blur of movement that was probably the girl wiping her face on her sleeve. "Without you around, things went down the toilet. But I guess at least you got what you wanted in the end. Wherever you are now, you're beyond all the pain, right? No more worries, no more fighting, no more hurting. You can see your family again, right? Maybe you and Sam can be together now."_
> 
> _That name stirred another memory, a painful one. Sam. If he'd hands to clench, they would have been balled into fists; tears on his face. Dead due to his own carelessness; his own greed over that stupid test. Was she trapped like he was now? Immobile, impotent, voiceless and alone? And Tucker, what about him? Or Jazz, or his parents?_
> 
> _"She loved you, Danny. She was a better friend than I could ever be. She would never have hurt you the way I did. It's going to be hard to go on now, but it's not your fault. You tried your very best. I know you tried to save them, Danny, but I couldn't save you. I had my chance, we all did." There was no mistaking the anguish in her voice; the weight of a grim burden carried on her words. "And now I'll never see you again, I'll never be able to make amends for those awful things I said to you. You tried so hard, Danny, but I guess it was more than you could handle alone. But I won't let you down now."_
> 
> _There was iron beneath the anguish; the steel of determination backing that declaration. She had already let him down in the worst way imaginable; and it was clear that she realized her grave mistake and bore the weight of the consequences. What had happened since that terrible day in Vlad's lab? What had become of that... that other him?_
> 
> _"I'll protect everyone for you. You'd be heartbroken to see that monster... all that's left of you in this world. But I'll fight on as long as I can. For you, Danny." Valerie continued, the sentence giving him a good idea of where his other half had gone and what must have happened._
> 
> _Valerie fell silent, wrapping her arms around the rocky grave in an awkward approximation of a hug. It was hard to tell due to her silence, but he was fairly certain that the heaving of her shoulders was more sobbing. Perhaps the first time since it all went wrong that she could express her grief; as the sole capable ghost hunter in Amity Park now, she wouldn't have had time to grieve._
> 
> _Finally, as the shadows etched dark lines across the clearing, Valerie roused from her grief. Reluctantly she stood back up, trying to rub warmth back into arms gone cold from the weather as she walked toward the trees surrounding the site._
> 
> _"I hope you can finally be happy now." She paused at the trees, looking back with her head bowed and shoulders slumped. "I love you, Danny."_
> 
> _He was awake._

            But then, there was that one time... Dan appeared at the site. Danny had been far more aware and could perform some very minor manifestations. As a result he'd had an... _interesting_... conversation with the angry ghost. It had been fascinating; Danny's non-manifest state at the time had enabled him to verbally needle the fire-headed ghost without fear. Despite all evidence to the contrary, it seemed Dan did have a reason for his destructive behavior; he wasn't merely an insane madman.

            Dan had been caught off balance then; not quite vulnerable, but as their argument carried on the ghost's mantle of arrogant confidence thinned to a flimsy facade. Danny had hit a nerve when he accused his other self of running away. Dan's defensive and violent retort only served to prove Danny right. It wasn't madness that drove the fire-headed ghost's actions.

            It was fear.

            Guilt, probably; the same self-loathing that Danny himself experienced only as a distant sensation. Perhaps shame as well; while Vlad's ghost half had certainly not helped matters, the other half _was_ still Danny _Phantom_ , self-appointed protector of Amity Park. What that half had become had to be utterly appalling to Dan on _some_ subconscious level at least.

            So he ran from it.

            Danny was sure that was it. Dan had been running from his own memories that entire ten years; running from himself and what he'd done. Of course, there was one major problem with trying to run from yourself.

            _No matter where you run to, there you are._

            Danny was certainly wary about the fire-headed ghost's return from the past, but something had felt different compared to that encounter at the grave years ago. Violence had been the ghost's answer to mentally or emotionally taxing questions; yet in the lair Danny and Sam shared, Dan had been faced with what certainly had to be an upsetting situation.

            Yet there had been no violence.

            _Something must have happened in that other past._ Danny frowned, watching Clockwork's tower draw nearer. _I don't think he would have changed on his own._

            "Danny?" Sam's voice cut into his introspection.

            "Huh?"

            "We're here."

\---

            Dan felt like he'd been mowed down by a steamroller. Not that he actually _knew_ what being run over by a steamroller felt like; but the ache that seemed to encompass his entire body was probably a pretty close approximation. He forced his eyes open and found himself staring blankly at an unfamiliar ceiling, tinged faintly green by a large pane of tinted glass above him.

            _I got away intact?_

            He remained still, listening to the noises in the background and trying to piece together the disjointed string of recollections. He remembered Maghnus alright; the memory of how soundly the giant ghost had trounced him ignited a rage Dan hadn't felt since he'd broken free of the Fenton Thermos all those months ago. There had been that energy bolt, his desperate attempt to rip a hole back to the real world. He must have succeeded; Dan somehow doubted that oblivion was supposed to hurt.

            Beyond that, his memory was extremely hazy at best. He thought he remembered the ruins of the city, of dragging himself toward somewhere to hide and try and recover. Then voices, distant and arguing. There had been reassurance, had Tucker been there? No, it wasn't just Tucker's voice he remembered; there was another, female, and angry.

            _Valerie!_

            That thought drove Dan against the bonds holding him down as he tried to sit up. Tied down? This wasn't the ruins, this was... he listened, noticing the beeps of equipment and the background noise of some sort of facility.

            "Relax, you're safe enough for now." A familiar smarmy voice remarked to his left.

            "Vlad." Dan's voice sounded hoarse even to himself as he turned his head to see the billionaire, some sort of apron tied over his business suit. "Your lab?"

            "Hardly, my boy." Vlad fussed with some equipment nearby, and Dan realized that he was connected to the machine. "You've caused quite the commotion at Ghost Patrol Headquarters."

            _That_ left Dan staring in shock while Vlad finished whatever he was doing. "What?"

            "Hm, yes, I suppose it's only reasonable to assume you don't remember Valerie finding you out in the ruins." Vlad continued. "Fortunately for you, your friend Tucker barely managed to convince her that anything that could leave _you_ in such a state was probably ill news for everyone else."

            " _Valerie_ found me?" Dan hissed, bristling. "Untie me."

            "Sorry, but the restraints were the only way we could keep her from blowing what was left of your head clean off." The former villain eased himself onto a stool. "Oh, and do stop glaring. If it weren't for Valerie finding you and _my_ efforts to stabilize you, we wouldn't even be _having_ this conversation right now."

            Dan fell silent, trying to ignore an icy knot that had settled in the vicinity of his stomach. He had nearly... died? Him? The most powerful ghost the world had ever known, seemingly invincible against all opponents? The realization that he _wasn't_ did not sit well with the fire-headed ghost.

            "Things have been moving rather quickly, I'm afraid." Vlad continued, either unaware of Dan's stricken expression or choosing to ignore it for the sake of the ghost's dignity. "Dora arrived not too long ago in quite the panic, babbling about a ghost named Maghnus taking over her castle and demanding you return something you stole from his brother."

            "That I stole?" Dan found his voice again. "It's impossible. The crown and the ring are destroyed; their power is _mine_."

            "Ah, so that's what happened to Pariah." Vlad seemed unfazed by the information. "In any event, Daniel and Samantha have gone back to the Ghost Zone in order to find out more information about this Maghnus. Whether you like it or not, I fear we'll need you to suffer Valerie's presence and tell us what precisely is going on."

            "I'm _not_ helping that woman." Dan snarled, struggling more vigorously against the restraints.

            "Well, we need to find some way to counter this Maghnus." Vlad chuckled, leveling a positively wicked sneer at Dan. "Unless, of course, you think you might fare better against him a _second_ time?"

            Dan bristled but said nothing in retort. He knew if he had to face Maghnus a second time, the behemoth ghost would likely finish what he'd started in their first encounter. Dan knew he had just realized his own mortality and that he was afraid.

            He _hated_ it.

\---

            Something seemed wrong as soon as Danny and Sam touched down in Clockwork's lair. Nothing seemed to be disturbed, all of the Master of Time's collection of oddities seemed to be there. The large time viewer that dominated one wall was where it always was, though its surface was blank.

            Clockwork's lair was silent.

            The tower was _never_ silent; clocks of every shape and size made up the structure, and the grinding of the gears and ticking clocks meant the place was always buzzing with a steady rhythm of background noise. The mechanisms all lay still, their silence deafening.

            "Clockwork?" Danny called out into the uneasy silence.

            "Hey, are you here?" Sam cupped her hands and shouted.

            Silence answered them both.

            "This isn't right." Danny lowered his voice to a worried whisper, as though breaking the omnipresent silence would bring untold horrors upon them.

            "Even when he's not here, all the clocks are still ticking." Sam likewise spoke softly. "But now they aren't."

            Despite the size of the tower, the interior didn't take more than a few minutes for the two ghosts to search. Nothing seemed out of place, there was no sign of a fight or any sort of struggle. The place looked for all the world as though it was merely waiting for the return of its usual occupant; yet Clockwork wasn't there.

            "Danny!" Sam's voice ricocheted across the main chamber with a note of panic as she picked something up off the floor near the time viewer.

            Danny flew over quickly, eyes widening as he saw what the goth ghost had found.

            It was a staff, all purples and blues; a small clock set into the top. Clockwork's staff. The Master of Time never went anywhere without that staff; nor did he leave the device carelessly lying around unattended. The fact it appeared to be discarded, the ghost's lair completely still could only mean one thing.

            Something had happened to Clockwork.


	11. The Answers I Don't Know

**The Answers I Don't Know**  
"The tattered thought balloons above our heads  
Sinking in the weight of all we need to say  
Whys and what ifs have since long played out  
Left us short on happy endings"  
_-"Now or Never" - Josh Groban_ **  
**

"He's awake now." Vlad's declaration brought the conference room to a screeching halt as every human and ghost in the room stared at the former villain. "He's awake, and rather irate at his situation."

            "He's lucky he even _has_ a situation to be irate about!" Paulina huffed.

            "He wouldn't be if I'd had any say in it."Valerie leveled dark looks at Tucker and Vlad.

            "Guess that's our cue." Tucker hopped to his feet and quickly dropped through the floor. It wasn't much time to prep the ghost before Valerie got downstairs, but it was something at least.

            "Let's see what he knows then." Paulina muttered, propping an ecto gun against her shoulder. "And then figure out what to do with him."

            "Now _that_ should be obvious!" Valerie snarled, checking over one of her own guns and shoving past Vlad to be the first down the stairs.

            Inwardly, the huntress was shaking. She knew how to deal with the ghost... at least under the hostile circumstances from the past decade. Show no fear, taunt mercilessly, dodge constantly, and fire liberally. This time however, the circumstances were totally alien. Talk, pry for information. This was the unknown, something she wasn't prepared for.

            That alone was reason for fear. What would he say? What would _she_ say to him? Valerie had no idea.

            The rest were a step behind her, whispering among themselves about what was locked up in the basement lab.

            "-lping her!" The voice carrying from below was clearly irate.

            "-ot just about her!" The second voice was Tucker, sounding exasperated.

            The two ghosts fell silent when the rest of the group clustered in the doorway, the sudden absence of conversation stifling. For many present, it was their first time getting a good, long look at a figure that had haunted their nightmares. A chance to take in the fire-headed ghost's appearance at close range without immediately focusing on survival tactics and evasion.

            Valerie felt her blood run cold. Most of Dan's injuries were no longer visible, and the ghost had somehow mended the gaping holes in his suit. Visibly, the spook seemed to be in top form; and those restraints holding him prone did little to soothe the huntress' nerves. She had long been conditioned to equate seeing _him_ with life-threatening danger, and it was all she could do not to immediately seek cover.

            "Spit it out, Phantom." Valerie finally split the silence, the words coming out as a hiss.

            "I told you I'm not helping _her_." Dan snapped at Tucker.

            "I was afraid this would happen." Vlad noted with an over-dramatic sigh.

            "Either you start talking, ghost-" Valerie snarled, lifting her gun and pointing it at Dan. "-or you've outlived your usefulness."

            "Do you think that little toy of yours scares me, Valerie?" Dan hissed in response, clenched fists pulling against the restraining straps.

            "Knock it off, both of you!" Tucker interjected, stepping between the ghost and the huntress.

            "Okay, so you're not going to talk to Valerie?" Paulina pinched the bridge of her nose in thought.

            "The Ghost Zone will freeze over before I talk to _her_. The only things I have to say to _her_ -" Dan spat, voice gaining that sinister edge that everyone remembered all too well. "-involve how badly I wish she would _die_."

            "Same to you, Phantom!" Valerie growled, glaring past Tucker at Dan.

            "Valerie!" Paulina cut the huntress off before the conversation could degenerate further. "Why don't you go upstairs for now, alright?"

            That made the huntress bristle even more. "I'm your commanding-"

            "Not in this, Valerie." Paulina interrupted again. "This isn't just patrol business, it concerns the entire city. And in that, _I_ outrank _you_."

            "Ah yes, the Mayor Pro Temp certainly has the authority to command the police." Vlad pointed out. "So if you would do as Miss Sanchez has suggested, Valerie, then perhaps we can get somewhere."

            "What, you think _he_ -" Valerie gestured at Dan with her gun. "-will talk to you, either?"

            "Actually." Dan smiled wickedly, showing both fangs. "I will."

            If Valerie's expression had been withering before, now it looked as though her glare could take the paint off a battleship at five-hundred yards. There was little doubt that Dan's willingness to talk to anyone _but_ Valerie was purely out of spite.

            "Just remember ghost, who you owe your continued existence right now to!" Valerie retorted, turning and storming toward the stairs.

            "Ah yes, why don't you run off on one of your little 'patrols'." Dan's voice taunted after her. "Clearly, they've proven so very _useful_ in the past!"

            "Dan, I know you don't like her-" Tucker rolled his eyes.

            "I _despise_ her and hate her for everything she was, is, and will _ever_ be." Dan interrupted with a hiss.

            "-But could you try not to needle her so much?"

            "Aaaanyway." Paulina warily pulled a stool over and eased herself down onto it, eyes on the ghost at all times.

            "Feh, I make no promises." Dan scoffed.

            "What happened to you back there-" Paulina inquired. "-Danny?"

\---

            "How _dare_ he?" Valerie shouted to no one in particular as she stormed to the upper floor launch deck of the building.

            What was everybody so worried about? New powerful ghost in the Ghost Zone, so what? To her, there was no excuse for permitting _that_ ghost to continue existing; not when the opportunity had so neatly presented itself to end it once and for all.

            _Fine, I'll go run around making sure no_ minor _threats show up, while they chat up the biggest threat of all in our own headquarters!_

            That would also put the most capable of the Patrol's agents far from where an initial assault would take place; thus ensuring that at least one hunter remained to deal with the ghost after he invariably went berserk again. Despite the mounting evidence contradicting her, there was still no doubt in Valerie's mind that Dan would resume his rampages. There was no "if" the ghost would attack again; there was only "when" he would attack again.

            _You know you're being childish about all this. Any ghost that could whup_ him _that bad probably is only bad news for everyone else._ Some traitorous part of her mind noted dryly as Valerie took to the open skies above the city.

            "So if it's that big a deal, all we gotta do is close down the portals. No portals, no super-powered mystery ghosts showing up." Valerie nodded to herself at the simple solution to the problem that had everyone up in arms.

            _Yeah, and your friends who happen to reside in the Ghost Zone would_ really _appreciate being left on their own to deal with it._

She couldn't leave Danny, Sam, and Tucker to deal with whatever this Maghnus guy was alone. Not in good conscience, at least. Certainly not knowing that Tucker had already lost his home to the new spook, if Dora's report was to be believed; and Valerie had no reason to doubt the dragon princess. No, she couldn't leave her friends hanging.

            _I abandoned you once before, Danny. I won't again. Even if it means dealing with_ him _. After all, it was partly because of me that_ he _even exists._

            It was a thought she tried not to think about too much; one of those nagging memories that would always rise to haunt her dreams at night. That day a decade ago when she'd unwittingly put in motion events that had sent Danny running in fear to Wisconsin...

>             _"Val, before I tell you..." Danny pleaded. "You've gotta promise me you'll let me finish. Please, don't freak out on me, please..."_
> 
> _"Danny, calm down! Relax. Whatever it is, I swear I won't freak out or anything." She readily promised, grabbing the grieving boy's shoulders and giving his a reassuring shake. "We're friends, right?"_
> 
> _It took him several moments to calm down, and she could see fresh tears in his eyes; the raw grief a startling contrast to his tense stance. "Okay. Y'know how my parents are...were-"_
> 
> _He choked back a sob, and she hugged him, offering what little comfort she could for a friend who had lost everything. In that blast, Danny had lost more than she ever had thanks to the ghost kid. She still had her father, after all._
> 
> _"Danny... I'm sorry. It's okay to cry."_
> 
> _He went rigid and pulled away abruptly, almost as though the contact burned. "You don't understand! It was my fault! I couldn't-!"_
> 
> _Amazingly he managed to get a handle on his distress, regaining some facade of calm much faster than she could have thought possible. He recited in brief for her the history of the Fenton Portal, and how the device hadn't worked at first; until he tampered with it, causing an accident that by all rights ought to have killed him._
> 
> _"Oh please, Valerie, don't hate me for this, please-" His earlier desperation paled in comparison to his final plea as he stepped back, falling into a slight crouch that seemed strangely familiar... "I'm going ghost!"_
> 
> _Then he simply_ changed _, and the world as she knew it was turned upside-down. Yet all she could think in that first moment of staring into those tear-filled glowing green eyes..._
> 
> **DANNY _LIED_ TO ME!**
> 
> _"It was **your** fault?! YOU did this?!" She never did figure out what exactly "this" was that she blamed him for in that instant._
> 
> _All she knew was that her enemy was standing where her friend had been a moment ago, and that she didn't know what to think anymore._
> 
> _"Valerie-" He squeaked, backing away from the ecto-gun she had trained on him._
> 
> _"You LIED to me, ghost! You ruined my life, you lied to me-" The accusations were as wild as her shots as she retreated to the familiar sanctuary of anger. "-you USED me!"_
> 
> _She chased him into the sky, firing at him but utterly failing to land a shot in her state of upset._
> 
> _"Valerie, you promised-!"_

\---

            "Don't call me that." Dan growled.

            "Well it's who you are, isn't it?" The Latina responded coldly. "I figured it out after the last time we spoke... before the shield went down."

            "It's who I _was_ , not who I _am_ now." The ghost bristled.

            "He prefers being called Dan." Tucker interrupted before another argument could really get underway.

            "Right." Paulina quirked an eyebrow. "So, then, Dan. You said you'd talk to anybody but Valerie. So what happened to you? I'm surprised there's another ghost out there that could do that much damage to you."

            "Guy called himself Maghnus." Dan snorted. "Apparently his brother Pariah betrayed him and stole the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire from him."

            "I have never heard of the ghost king having a brother." Dora gaped. "Surely someone that powerful... we would have known!"

            "Hah! The guy sure had fun bragging about how much stronger he was than his 'traitorous brother'." Dan snorted.

            "But I don't get it!" Tucker frowned. "You completely _wasted_ Pariah years ago. Then this guy shows up and even _you_ couldn't beat him?"

            "I can assure you, no one was more surprised by that fact than I was." Dan remarked dryly, shifting in an attempt at finding a slightly more comfortable position. "He's powerful. His army of goons, not so much. No worse than Pariah's skeleton army."

            "He didn't need his army to take over our castle!" Dora protested.

            "So I didn't kill them all?" Dan muttered a curse. "He arrived before I could finish them all off."

            "To cut through all the pleasantries-" Vlad interrupted. "-I think what we'd all like to know is _how_ , precisely, did this Maghnus reduce _you_ to such a wretched state?"

            Dan closed his eyes for a moment, wincing at the memory. "He's powerful. It pains me to say so, but he's probably more powerful than I am; at least in terms of sheer destructive power. And that's not his only advantage."

            "He let me go to deliver a message to you." Dora frowned. "That you return what you stole from him, if that makes any sense."

            "It doesn't. I can't give him the ring or the crown." Dan growled. "He is bad news, I can promise that. His goons wouldn't shut up about how he was the only one fit to rule and remake the world in his image."

            "So the guy's got some kind of god complex? Wow, that takes the cake." Tucker noted.

            "Wait, wouldn't 'remaking' the world mean that he needs to destroy the existing one first?" Paulina squeaked. "No way anybody could do _that_."

            Uneasy silence fell over the room as everyone considered that with varying degrees of disbelief.

            "That's utter rubbish." Vlad finally declared. "Destroy the world? Remake it? How, pray tell, could anything accomplish _that_?"

            The tension that weighed heavily on the room began to lift at the old man's declaration. After all, how could anything destroy the entire world and survive the destruction to rebuild? It was impossible, simple as that!

            It was the ghost tied down to the restraining table that smacked sense into the group with his next statement.

            "The same way somebody could accomplish beating _me_ to within an inch of my life." Dan hissed. "Do you think so little of my power that _I_ would have been beaten to a pulp by sheer force alone?"

            "Well then spit it out already!" Vlad retorted. "If it wasn't stupid brute strength, then how did he do it?"

            "I'm not sure how. It was some strange power of his. These weird silver beams from his gauntlet that... There was no stopping them. Ecto beams, solid objects, duplicates..." Dan cringed visibly at the recollection. "Anything that they hit just.... ceased to exist. _That_ is what almost got me. He caught one of my duplicates in the arm and took it clear off; and I'll have you know it _hurt_."

            "You feel it when a double gets hurt?" Paulina blinked in surprise, that bit of trivia apparently being news to her.

            "Yes, I _feel_ it." Dan snapped in response. "Every double is... just an extension. Disposable enough, but not the sort of thing you just shrug off. And then he caught one of my other doubles, and that was a full body shot of that weird beam."

            "Ah, and that is what did you in, was it?" Vlad nodded knowingly. "The utter annihilation of one of your duplicates before you could dispel it would have to have taken quite a toll on even _your_ resources."

            "It was almost as bad as what I wish would happen to Valerie." The ghost sneered. "I barely got away from the final blast by ripping a portal out of the Ghost Zone."

            "... I guess that covers the 'destroy the world' part then." Tucker squeaked.

\---

            "Okay, so we've searched the entire tower, and no sign of Clockwork." Sam frowned, eyeing the staff that was the only trace of the time-controlling ghost.

            "Except for his staff, and as far as anybody knows, he doesn't just leave this thing lying around." Danny nodded.

            "Maybe this thing can give us a clue where he is..." Sam shifted her grip to try and fiddle with the clock set in the top of the shaft.

            Unfortunately for the two ghosts, a whole lot of nothing happened. Clicking the stopwatch button on the top of the staff yielded absolutely no response. The clock itself didn't even seem to be running; like the gearworks of the tower, it was stopped cold.

            "You don't think..." Danny lowered his voice. "That something happened to him, do you?"

            "Got me." Sam shrugged, still fussing with the staff. "He's so elusive, but it doesn't seem right that he'd leave this behind. It's practically his trademark!"

            Further conversation was brought crashing to a halt by the sound of a boulder crashing into the side of the tower. The two ghosts yelped and were thrown by the concussion of the impact, their shouts lost amid the clanking of the disturbed clocks in the tower.

            "Wh-what was _that_?!" Danny yelped as he got his bearings, flicking some bits of blasted grit from his hair.

            "How should I-" Sam's response was cut short by another ecto-green boulder slamming into the side of the tower, narrowly missing the time viewer and spraying the both of them with debris.

            Danny grabbed Clockwork's staff and used the shaft to lever some of the debris off Sam, both listening to the mounting cacophony from outside. Once untangled from the debris, they both crept toward the new hole in the tower, peering out at the scene below.

            Veiled ghosts, a mass of them easily on par with the army Pariah had fielded years ago. Making up the ranks in the rear were several ghosts manning giant war machines; some sort of catapults, and clearly the source of the two attacks that had struck Clockwork's tower. The nearest ranks were soldiers, fighters carrying swords, a phalanx of spooks with wicked pole-arms instead of hands, archers with skeletal bows aimed at the tower.

            "Whoa-!" Danny yelped, ducking instinctively when a third boulder clipped the tower wall, showering the interior with more debris. "Who are they?!"

            "My money is on-" Sam paused, also ducking as the clatter of stone subsided again. "That they're the same guys that stormed Dora and Tucker's place."

            "We've gotta get out of here, Sam!" Danny declared, grabbing her arm and tugging her toward the balcony on the opposite side of the tower from the approaching army.

            "Don't have to tell me twice! Maybe _they_ got Clockwork!" Sam agreed as they dodged another shower of debris.

            The two stopped short at the balcony, matching stares of disbelief as they saw what was beyond the Master of Time's lair.

            Another mass of ghosts with veiled faces, some carrying banners with a four-horned crest flapping in a non-existant breeze. It wasn't just a frontal assault on Clockwork's tower. These guys had the place surrounded with full siege equipment.

            "KILL FOR THE KING!"

            "Danny..." Sam squeaked, staring at the mob that had the tower, and the two ghosts inside it completely surrounded. "I think we're in trouble."


	12. Anathema Resurgent

**Anathema Resurgent**  
"So boundless I feel  
And boundless all my fears  
Stop running back to old times  
You lose your routine  
Cause I found my path"  
_-"Path" - Apocalyptica_ **  
**

            "We'll just have to... make a run for it!" Danny checked the airspace above the tower.

            "And hope they don't spot us!" Sam agreed.

            Thankfully the attacking ghosts seemed to have planned their assault based on traditional warfare; without taking the three-dimensional range of Ghost Zone movement into account. While the tower was surrounded on all sides by a ring of veiled spooks, the space above and below Clockwork's lair was blessedly empty.

            "All clear overhead... let's go!" Danny leapt from the floor, arrowing straight up from the tower with Sam a breath behind him.

            From a few hundred feet above the tower, it was possible to get a much better idea of scale. While the veiled ghosts didn't quite stretch from one horizon to the other, it seemed close. There had to have been thousands, perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands of the ghosts. Danny cringed as he watched several more boulders slam into Clockwork's already battered tower.

            "That's odd." Sam frowned, watching the scene.

            "Huh? What is?" Danny snapped his attention away from the vast army below to look at Sam.

            "Well, why would they be attacking Clockwork's lair if something already happened to him?" The goth gestured at the tower and the army that was rapidly closing in on it.

            "Maybe they're looking for whatever that Maghnus guy thinks _he_ -" Danny couldn't bring himself to call Dan by any name yet. "-stole?"

            A loud howl sounded somewhere below the two, the racket entirely too close for comfort.

            "We've been spotted!" Sam yelped, grabbing Danny's arm and putting on all the speed she could muster.

            "Oh crud-!" Danny yelped, getting an eyeful of what was on their tail.

            Leading a large group of the veiled ghosts were several green skeletal beasts. Danny wasn't sure at a glance what they were skeletons of; mythology wasn't one of his strong points, but the things seemed to all be equipped with an array of painful looking spiky bits. From claws to fangs to wings that bore more resemblance to a Swiss Army knife than any flight apparatus, it was clear that he and Sam probably didn't want to try the "Nice doggie" approach with their pursuers.

            Danny got his wits together and shifted to grab Sam around the waist, putting on a burst of speed like he hadn't done since his half-ghost heyday a decade ago. By ghostly standards, he was absurdly weak, true; but if he put his mind to it, he could still manage a blistering one-hundred-twelve miles per hour at need.

            "Whoa-!" It was Sam's turn to yelp as she went from the one providing the pair's speed to merely being Danny's passenger. "Head for Skulker's island! Maybe we can lose them there!"

            "Got it!" Danny responded, shifting his flight direction and trying to ignore the depraved shrieks of the ghosts chasing them. "Call Tucker!"

\---

            "So it's the gauntlet that Maghnus wears that's the most dangerous aspect of him." Vlad tapped his cane against the floor in thought.

            "I remember enough of your older research-" Dan spat from where he was still tied down. "-to know that you probably know _less_ about it than I do."

            "Indeed." The billionaire agreed with the acerbic statement. "My research had barely anything about any magical gauntlet; certainly not one with such utter destructive power."

            "You know something about this thing?" Paulina shot the old man a disbelieving look. "Spit it out!"

            "Perhaps if we could get a better description of the one Maghnus has-?" Vlad prompted Dan. "What little I do know may not even apply."

            "Well, if it's going to be Uncle Dan's Story Time-" Dan remarked icily. "-would you please undo these stupid restraints?"

            Vlad and Tucker exchanged questioning glances before both looked to Paulina, who was technically in charge of the situation.

            "I don't trust you." Paulina declared, expression suddenly cold. "If I let you up, what promise do I have that you _won't_ smash out of here and kill everybody in the process?"

            "I suppose you won't trust me if I said I _promise_ -" Dan's tone conveyed massive distaste for the word, as though it left a foul taste in his mouth. "-not to go back to my... old habits."

            "He really has gotten better-" Tucker began.

            "I still don't trust him." The Latina interrupted. "He's _said_ a lot of things before. I may not be as... angry... as Valerie is, but I've still got my own score to settle."

            Dan bristled at the insult, quietly testing his bonds. He was still weakened from his near-oblivion experience; but Vlad's treatment had already done wonders. With his natural stamina, the fire-headed ghost figured he would be back up to full power very quickly.

            "What if I said I could break out of here already?" He shot Paulina a sly fanged grin.

            Paulina paused, one eyebrow quirking up as she surveyed the prone ghost. "I'd say you're bluffing."

            _You could break out **now**. That would shut her up._ He noted. _And then blast that smirk straight off her pretty little face._ _Just like that._

Dan shook his head. _No, you fool! You're supposed to be over that now. What would Jazz think?_

_She's not even alive here. This isn't that cozy other time. Why should you even care what she would think?_

            Dan silenced his inner monologue, forgetting about the tense discussion in the lab and his staredown with Paulina. Valerie he could understand, it was only proper that he should continue to harbor that hatred that had sustained him for so long. But Paulina? Sure, the Latina had opposed him in the past, but she hadn't done anything _to_ him; not of her own choice. No, she had been manipulated by _Valerie_.

            _I'm just getting irritated with the situation. How much of this indignity should I have to tolerate?_

He'd get his chance, he just had to keep hold of his steadily diminishing patience!

            "Um... guys?" Tucker broke the silence. "Seriously, Dan, could you just tell us about the gauntlet?"

            "Pheh, fine." Dan sneered. "I _did_ say I'd tell Paulina after all."

            "Much appreciated." Vlad remarked dryly. "Do go on."

            The ghost frowned in thought, trying to dredge details out of the trauma-blurred memory. "It looked like some sort of armor... maybe gold or platinum. With a bunch of gems in it."

            "Gems-?" Vlad's interest piqued. "How many?"

            "How should I know?" Dan growled. "Trivial details weren't on my mind when I was _busy_ nearly being ripped to pieces!"

            This time it was Vlad spitting a curse. "The gems are vital! I you'd recalled how many there were... then perhaps..." He shook his head. "No, it can't be _that_ , from what you've described. I fear my knowledge is most likely useless."

            "Hmph. The more things change, the more they stay the same, old man." Dan smirked, unable to resist needling the billionaire.

            "Indeed. After all, here I am, bailing **you** out of trouble you blundered into again." Vlad retorted easily.

            "Hah, it's not like I had much choice in the matter. He attacked me." Dan scoffed at the barb.

            "Yes, but knowing how you operate-" Vlad smiled, the expression entirely too smug. "-You could have _easily_ gotten away at any time with your portal ability. However you could _hardly_ turn tail and run without at least trying to overpower Maghnus."

            Dan bristled but offered no retort. That was one of Vlad's irritating habits; the older man had no problems needling the ghost with aggravating accuracy. He _could_ have fled the fight sooner; but no, it was his own overconfidence that had put him into the position of barely getting away with his life. Far be it for Vlad to overlook that obvious fact, or let the fire-headed ghost forget it.

            The argument was interrupted by an obnoxious musical jingle from some pocket in Tucker's royal robe.

            "Betcha Sam and Danny found something!" Tucker nonchalantly flicked the phone out of whatever pocket it had been hiding in. "Hey guys-"

            "We're in trouble!" Sam's shriek was loud enough that he held the phone away from his ear with a wince, and the others could clearly hear the goth.

            "They're _what_?!" Paulina yelped.

            "Sam!" Tucker could hear something unsavory roaring over the phone. "Where are you guys? What happened?"

            "That army! They're after us!" Sam shouted back, raising her voice to be heard above the background noise. "Whoa-!"

            Tucker cringed, the sound of that blast was entirely too close for anyone's comfort. "Okay, where are you guys so Dora and I can find you?"

            "Just got through the debris- Walker's prison-" Sam yelped again, her panic carrying clearly over the tiny phone speaker. "DANNY, LOOK OUT!"

            The sound of static was the only noise in the lab.

            "The prison debris field?" Tucker moaned, sliding to his knees. "There's no way- we'll never get there fast enough!"

            The sound of tearing metal and an explosion nearby shattered the silence next. The sudden blast of sound dragged all eyes back to something they'd almost forgotten about in the sudden rush of excitement.

            Dan scowled, plucking the last bits of the metal restraints from one wrist. Once more the nightmare vision of Phantom stood tall before the defenders of Amity Park; and from the look on the ghost's face, his patience had just run out. Paulina was the first to react, aiming her bazooka and tightening her grip on the trigger.

            "Don't move!" She growled.

            "I _told_ you I could break out at any time." Dan flashed a full-fanged sneer at the de facto commander of the situation. "Oh, but that _can't_ be right, can it? After all, I was merely _bluffing_."

            Paulina tried to ignore a cold knot of terror that had landed quite solidly in her stomach. Valerie was who-knew-where, while she and the others were in an underground facility with the ghost. She was at a massive disadvantage and she knew it; all the fire-headed ghost had to do was bring the roof down, and that would be that. Game over.

            Even Vlad and Tucker looked uncertain, and that fact alone shook the Latina worse than the ghost's presence in the first place. They had seemed to have a handle on the hot-tempered ghost; and if _they_ were uncertain and afraid now, that could only be bad news. She wasn't stupid either; she knew despite everything that even if Valerie had been there, no one would be able to do anything to stop the ghost. Unlike Valerie's maddening confidence, Paulina had a somewhat more realistic outlook on the problem; Dan was simply more than they could truly handle.

            "You can't be fully recovered yet!" Vlad protested.

            "Funny, I _feel_ fully recovered, old man." Dan spared a smug glance at the billionaire. "My thanks, it would have taken me weeks to recover enough strength to inflict _excessive_ bodily harm on some stupid fools."

            Paulina tried not to shrink back when the ghost's glare returned to her at that comment.

            Dan raised one hand, a green glow already surrounding the spread fingers. "I'm going to _enjoy_ this."

            "Dan, wait-!" Tucker tried to intervene, putting himself between the ghost and the Latina. "Don't-!"

            "What do you _think_ you can do?" Dan scowled down at the royal geek.

            "I-" Tucker bit his lip. "Dude, I _trusted_ you!"

            "How _quaint_." Dan smirked. "Now if you'll excuse me-"

            The green glow around the ghost's hand suddenly expanded, a green oval as tall as he was; whirling a myriad shades of green. Before anyone could react, the ghost dove through the temporary portal with a sinister laugh, the sound cutting off suddenly as the gateway spun shut. The silence was deafening as everyone in the room heaved silent sighs of relief.

            "A flair for the dramatic, the insipid idiot." Vlad broke into the silence.

            "But where did he go?" Dora asked, finally finding her voice after having been momentarily certain that she and Tucker were about to face the same fate her brother Aragon had years ago.

            "The Ghost Zone... Oh man!" Tucker yelped. "He's going after Danny!"

            "He's _what_?!" Paulina spun, glancing at the Patrol's ghost portal. "We've got to tell Valerie!"

\---

            "Danny, are you okay?" Sam shook the dazed ghost. "Say something!"

            "Ow...." He shook his head a few times to clear the lingering daze. "Too close for comfort. You okay, Sam?"

            "Yeah, just scorched. It got the phone." The goth nodded, showing her burnt hand to her friend. "But never mind that, we've gotta get moving, they're gaining-"

            "FOR LORD MAGHNUS!"

            "Uh... Sam?" Danny glanced around, blue eyes wide. "They're not gaining, they're _here_. This is bad."

            " _Really_ bad." Sam backed away from the nearest of the skeletal beasts, a foul thing that was either a gargoyle or a dragon; she wasn't sure which.

            "You!" One of the veiled ghosts pointed a spear at the pair. "Where is it?"

            "What?" The two exchanged worried glances.

            "The Ascendancy! Where have you taken the other half of it?" The specter demanded. "The great lord of the dark demands it be returned!"

            "What are you _talking_ about?!" Danny demanded. "We've never heard of this Ascendancy thing, and we didn't take anything belonging to that creep!"

            "How dare you speak ill of Lord Maghnus!" The veiled goon hissed, a guttural, wet sound. "Submit then, or face oblivion!"

            "Submit?" Danny glared defiance. "No way, not after what your jerky king did to Tucker!"

            "Danny, you can't-!" Sam could appreciate Danny's stubbornness; and had the circumstances been different, she would have welcomed the change in his demeanor, the emotional intensity that had been lacking since he'd first manifested fully as a ghost.

            "Well, then you can be left behind when our great lord acquires that which is his, and remakes the world as he sees fit!" The veiled ghost snickered coldly, gesturing to his comrades.

            Danny dropped into a combat crouch, the move familiar though he hadn't fought in years. Sam heaved a resigned sigh and also dropped into position behind him. As far as power went, she was the stronger of the pair, even if he still had more personal combat experience. Though the goth held little hope for getting away, surrounded now and outnumbered at least ten to one.

            "Danny, before something happens-" Sam swallowed nervously, laying one hand on Danny's shoulder. "I just wanted to say-"

            Whatever she wanted to say was cut off abruptly by a veritable wall of energy slamming into the outer ring of ghosts from somewhere to the left. Most of the beasts got out of harm's way, but many of the humanoid ghosts couldn't escape the blast in time. Certainly they had something new to worry about, having not expected such a sudden attack from an unknown quarter.

            "What the-?" Danny spun, trying to spot the source of the blast.

            One of the beasts, now minus its handler charged at the two ghosts, disfigured mouth gaping and revealing painful looking fangs oozing some vile fluid. Sam gave a shout and slammed into Danny, knocking them both out of the creature's path as it thundered past.

            "What was that?!"

            "Look out, it's coming back!"

            A blur of black and white shot past the pair, slamming what was probably a foot or a fist into that gaping maw with enough force to shatter the lower jaw and launch the monster. Its pained shrieks faded as it careened into the distance on a wild trajectory.

            "You're _still_ useless." The figure stood back up straight and spun around, the movement flaring the jagged cape into a sinister flourish.

            Sam felt frozen to the spot, staring at the red eyes that seemed to bore holes into the two of them. What was _he_ doing here, and what did that mean? _Did he escape from Valerie and the others? Oh no...!_

            "You!" If Danny was scared, he did an admirable job of not showing it, matching his counterpart glare for glare.

            "That's gratitude for you." A sarcastic shrug. "But that's how it goes, isn't it?"

            "He survived?!" One of the attacking ghosts exclaimed, likely gaping in shock behind the veil.

            Dan turned his attention on the goon squad, one fang visible in a sneer. "Just what I was looking for. Something to take some misplaced aggression out on!"

            "You-!" Sam tried to find her voice and her wits.

            "Enjoy the show." Dan gave the two stunned ghosts a dramatic and entirely sarcastic bow. "I know _I_ will."

            Before anyone else could remark, Dan launched himself at the nearest of the ghosts, fists glowing green as he planted one square in the goon's veil. The other fist went clear through the skeleton ghost's midsection, the sound of bones snapping a testament to the force of the blow. A fluid half-turn kicked the bony head clean off one of the beasts; the completion of the spin brought the fire-headed ghost's other leg around to punt the decapitated monster into the distance.

            "Attack!"

            The rest of the spooks hurried to mob Dan after that display, a press of spears and creatures and swords. It seemed Danny and Sam were almost forgotten for the moment, though the two remained penned in by the rapidly closing circle of ghosts.

            "Well... I guess five to one is a little better." Sam quipped, remembering that she and Danny had been about to fight the goon squad.

            "I... guess." Danny had an odd look on his face, watching Dan tearing into the attacking mob with nothing short of deranged glee.

            "Don't just stand there!" A thorny length of blackened vine shot past Danny, coiling itself around one of the veiled ghosts.

            "Whoa!" Danny jumped back, only now realizing that his goth friend had already gone on the attack

            True to her nature, most of Sam's ghostly abilities revolved around gothic imagery... and plants. She grinned, holding the thorn-free end of the plant whip she had conjured. Danny helped her brace herself and the pair whipped around in a half-spin, yanking the trapped ghost around and snapping him free to collide hard with one of the beasts. Beast and handler landed in a heap of bones and angry squeals, the ghostly boar kicking the veiled spook to a pulp as it got its feet back under it.

            Danny took a spare moment to study his deranged counterpart. Compared to what he'd heard of Dan's penchant for large explosions, the taller ghost seemed to be holding back from excessive energy use aside from the initial attention-grabbing blast. Perhaps a sign that despite appearances, the spook wasn't yet in top form after having been reamed by Maghnus?

            Still, from the wide grin that nearly split Dan's face in half, forked tongue sticking out; it seemed that the fire-headed ghost was enjoying himself in a way that made Danny feel decidedly uncomfortable. After all, that crazed face had been the last thing he'd seen before he died. Danny absently rubbed his arms at the distant recollection. He didn't much recall the killing blow, it was the events immediately prior that still haunted him.

>             _"Oh, don't make such a fuss._ _It's not as though you need your hands, the useless things." The sneer was intense, though the fire-headed ghost's tone was casual, too casual as the pressure on his arms increased, making him spasm with the pain. "Those hands couldn't save anyone, least of all our family."_
> 
> _He was dazed and didn't know what exactly had happened. One moment he could feel that bone-crushing grip on both his arms; and the next he was sliding down the wall of Vlad's lab, the pain still there... but he couldn't feel his arms anymore._

            Danny shook his head, trying to drive off that particular memory. It had been his own stupid decision that led to that terrible day, his counterpart had merely stated what he couldn't admit to himself; that he _had_ been useless, he hadn't been able to save his family and friends from his folly at the Nasty Burger.

            "Duck!"

            Danny registered the command before realizing the voice that gave it, dropping to the ground just in time to avoid a green blast the size of a stove that shot through where he'd been a moment prior. He glanced up just in time to see it slam into one of the beasts... maybe a chimera or griffin. With a squawk of surprise the thing was blasted to bits.

            It took a second to register what had just happened. Dan had _warned_ him to get out of the way? The ghost had made an effort to _avoid_ hitting him?

            Then he looked _down_ at Clockwork's besieged tower in the distance below.

            "Sam!" He yelled, jumping up and punching his way past another of the veiled ghosts to get alongside the goth again. "We gotta get going!"

            "Wha-" Sam lashed one of the beasts with her whip, stinging it across the empty eye sockets and making it reel with a pained howl.

            Dan spat a curse, flinging several more of the attacking ghosts aside with small blasts and bone-shattering use of his fists. "The rest of that idiot's army isn't oblivious; if we stay put they'll _all_ be after us!"

            Danny and Sam gaped blankly at Dan as the taller ghost closed the remaining distance, still tense and using pinpoint beams to keep the remains of the squadron away from the three ghosts.

            "Why are you _helping_ us?" Sam hissed, manifesting a few extra tails on her weapon, turning it from a thorny whip into a thorny cat 'o nine tails.

            "Did you find that fool Clockwork?" Dan ignored the question, most of his attention on the hostile ghosts and the army below.

            "He's gone." Danny said flatly.

            Further conversation was interrupted by a boulder launched from the catapults below, forcing them to scatter briefly. Dan spat another curse, too preoccupied to notice a food item or two sneaking into his litany of harsh invectives.

            "What do you mean he's gone?!" Dan demanded. "We need to find out about Maghnus and that stupid toy gauntlet of his!"

            Danny raised an eyebrow. _He's preoccupied with that Maghnus guy... too focused on that to deal with old grudges, or something._ He didn't want to admit that maybe, just _maybe_ Tucker was right and the demented ghost had turned over a new leaf.

            "Like Danny said." Sam snapped, her expression indicating to Danny that the goth's thoughts were likely similar to his own. "Clockwork's not there, we found his staff abandoned inside!"

            "FU-" Dan started to exclaim.

            "If that ends with a dessert item, I swear no one is going to take you seriously ever again." Danny quipped.

            Dan shut up, the stricken look on his face clearly indicating that he may very well have almost slipped up.

            "Yeah..." Sam interrupted the boys. "We need to go. Now."

            The noise from the army was growing louder. Clockwork's tower was no longer visible; likely all that remained of it was ruin. They'd seen their fellow soldiers getting whupped, and were closing in.

            Dan bristled. Alone he thought he could do relatively well even against those odds. _Until Maghnus shows up and beats you stupid because you're not even at full strength yet._

            Fear.

            Dan _hated_ it.

            No, much as it stung his pride, retreat was the more sensible option. Besides, Danny and Sam weren't up to such a battle, and Dan didn't relish trying to explain to Tucker why the pair were gone if he tried to stand and fight with the two also caught in the warzone. Especially not after his escape from Patrol headquarters. Even while he took stock of the situation, he smiled wickedly envisioning how Valerie would react to the news.

            "Pick a direction." Dan moved like a striking snake, catching each of the two ghosts by one arm and shooting away from the pursuing forces.

            "What the-?!" Sam had time to gasp before the Ghost Zone began to tear past at high speed.

            Danny went rigid in Dan's grip, blue eyes wide with terror. He wasn't running from an army anymore, he was back in Vlad's lab that day over ten years ago; the day he first stared down the ghost that now had a tight grasp on his arm. The day he'd died.

            "Stop... please-" The black haired ghost whimpered.

            Dan looked down at him, brow furrowed in annoyance; then turned to glance at Sam who was still wide-eyed in surprise. "What's wrong with him _now_?"

            "What's- Danny!" Sam yelped. "Let me go! Put him down!"

            "Are you _nuts_ , Sam?!" Dan shouted back, startling the goth with the use of her name. "In case you may have _forgotten_ , I was almost killed earlier and that's not something you just bounce out of bed from!"

            Sam couldn't argue with the speed at least. Dan was probably flying at close to _his_ top speed, and it certainly seemed far more than Danny's one-hundred-twelve miles per hour. He was... well, she hoped it was a rescue and not some twisted revenge. But if _he_ was running for his life, what did that say about his condition... and about their mutual opponents?

            "Try... pick a door! Any door!" Sam shouted, trying to ignore the discomfort of Dan's tight grip.

            The fire-headed ghost nodded once, careening to the left in a dizzying high-speed turn. He let Sam go as they came up to one of the doors that seemed to be nearly everywhere in the Ghost Zone; the thing looked familiar, though Dan couldn't quite place where he'd seen it before.

            Taking the hint, Sam threw the door open and the trio dove through, slamming it shut behind them.

            "The Masque of the Red Death!"

            They weren't alone.


	13. Looking for Answers

**Looking for Answers**  
"It's in your eyes, what's on your mind.  
I fear your smile and the promise inside.  
It's in your eyes, what's on your mind.  
I fear your presence, I'm frozen inside."  
_-"A Dangerous Mind" - Within Temptation_ **  
**

            "What do you mean he's _gone_?!" Valerie shrieked into her wristband loud enough that the tiny image of Paulina on the screen visibly flinched. "He was tied down and trapped and still all weak and stuff!"

            "And we didn't _do_ anything!" The Latina protested just as hotly, her voice sounding tinny over the wristband speaker. "One minute he's tied down, the next he broke the machine!"

            "Is everyone alright?" Valerie mentally kicked herself; the casualties ought to have been her first thought. "How bad's the damage?"

            "That's the weird part." Paulina frowned. "Oh, I thought we were all gonna die, but..."

            "But?"

            "He didn't hurt anybody." The Latina sounded like she didn't believe it herself. "The only damage was the restraining table..."

            "And?" Valerie prompted again.

            "... And that's it."

            Valerie glanced off to the side and spat a curse low enough for the communicator not to pick up the sound before she turned her attention back to the device. _That can't be right, this is_ Phantom _we're talking about!_

            "Paulina, seriously. What happened?"

            "I am serious!" Traces of indignation crept into the ex-cheerleader's voice. "He broke loose after Sam called saying she and Danny were in trouble-"

            "Whoa, whoa, back up!" Valerie seized on the new information. "They're in trouble?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

            Paulina heaved an exasperated sigh. "Okay, look. This is what happened. Sam called Tucker in a panic. Something about an army chasing them, then the call was cut off. We were trying to figure out how to get help to them when... Dan just broke out and took off. Tucker thinks he went into the Ghost Zone after Danny and Sam!"

            "He _what_?!" Valerie yelled. "I'm coming back to headquarters now. Scramble anybody who isn't flying patrol right now! We're going after them!"

            She cut the call off before Paulina's protest could get through, turning the nose of her jet sled sharply back toward the New City in the distance. _Why am I so annoyed that he_ didn't _go and try to blow headquarters up? It's stupid, it's a_ good _thing he didn't!_

            Valerie was annoyed. That she knew she was annoyed only annoyed her further. There was another emotion underneath it that she couldn't quite pin down; and that only added more to the heap of annoyance. For some reason it seemed almost like an insult that Phantom hadn't bothered to blast headquarters after he got loose.

            _No, that's not it._ She growled to herself, the wind howling in her ears from the speed of her flight. _It's like... something I've felt before._

            A random memory floated to the surface. High school, freshman year. Eating a sack lunch all by herself and trying to ignore the hurtful whispering and conspicuous glances in her direction from the popular table. The sense of hurt and loss following almost immediately on the heels of her father being fired. The sudden scorn of her friends all because she wasn't rich anymore. The...

            _Betrayal._

            That was it, for some inexplicable reason she was feeling _betrayed_ by Phantom. The thought deepened her already impressive scowl. Sure, he betrayed her before. Ten years ago, in front of Fentonworks. That sense of betrayal was an old acquaintance, a feeling she'd grown used to and eventually dismissed. This was different, a fresh sense of the irritating emotion.

            And it was completely stupid. Why should the ghost's actions leave her feeling as if he'd gone and betrayed her again? Nothing he could do would ever top the utter betrayal of their friendship and her trust ten years ago when he first tried to kill her, and nearly succeeded.

            _He was supposed to go berserk again!_ She fumed. _That's who he is and what he does!_

Maybe _that_ was it. In a warped sort of way, she _trusted_ him. She trusted he would act a certain way, and the fact he _wasn't_ was a violation of that. So far, the ghost's behavior since his return was utterly at odds with what he _should_ have been doing. He should have attacked when Paulina found him at the old cemetery. He should have tried to wipe them all off the face of the Earth! Yet despite what he _should_ have done, that wasn't what he _did_. He ran away. He retreated. He _didn't attack_. He was making... if not friends, then at least sympathizers. This was not the way things should be; the two of them were mortal enemies! They were each seeking the utter annihilation of the other; _that_ was how things should be!

            Wasn't it?

\---

            For perhaps the only time ever, not only was Dan rendered utterly speechless, but so was Sam; not even Danny had a suitable snip of witty banter to throw at the ghost that floated belligerently in front of the trio.

            He was tall, though still just a hair shorter than Dan's imposing height; with a pasty blue-green complexion and a neatly kept beard and full head of dark hair that did nothing to smooth the hard angles of his face. One hand was planted firmly on the ghost's hip, while the other maintained a careful grip on a large book; a button-down work shirt and pants completed his appearance and did nothing to flatter his slightly overweight build.

            "You!" The ghost's expression darkened as he realized who had barged into his lair.

            Dan cringed, expecting to get another barrage of panic from yet _another_ person realizing that the scourge of the Ghost Zone was floating not ten feet away. _Great, and_ these _two are still paranoid-_

            "Mister Fenton, you have an awful lot of nerve showing yourself, young man!"

            Then Dan realized that the ghost hadn't so much as _glanced_ at him; the narrow-eyed glare was locked firmly onto...

            ...Danny?

            Sam was the first to shake off surprise and give voice to the startled exclamation that spoke for all three of them.

            "Lancer?!"

            "And Miss Manson, too." The dead teacher's gaze swept from a withering glare aimed at Danny to a merely stern expression as he studied the goth. "And..."

            He finally looked at Dan, one eyebrow arching upward.

            "... Who are you?"

            Dan gaped outright at Lancer, while Danny fell over in surprise at the apparent confusion of their shared high school nemesis. Sam merely slapped her forehead in disbelief. How could Lancer _not_ know who the fire-headed spook was? Dan was _only_ the single most powerful and feared... well, _second_ most powerful and feared since Maghnus came along... but regardless, he was infamous!

            "What do you mean 'Who are you?', you-" Dan finally spluttered angrily.

            "Regardless, you should be ashamed of yourself!" Lancer turned to glower at Danny again. "After what your actions are responsible for!"

            The shorter ghost visibly flinched at the unexpected barrage. Sure, he knew exactly what his actions were responsible for; perhaps better than Lancer did. After all, what his actions were responsible for was standing a few feet away, staring at the teacher with something between rage and shock on an otherwise terrifying face.

            "Do you realize the enormity of what you've done, all for what? _Test answers_?" Lancer scolded mercilessly. Clearly the teacher had been saving up the rant, probably for at least ten years. "Because of that-"

            "Everyone died, I _know_!"

            All eyes turned to the unexpected source of the outburst. Dan stood, almost visibly quaking with some unreadable emotion, his red eyes alight and his hands clenched into tight fists surrounded by the barest glimmer of a green glow.

            Sam and Lancer both backed away from the ghost, surprised by the outburst and the implied threat of imminent violence. Danny remained where he stood, eyeing his arguably worse half speculatively. This was not something expected of an allegedly cold-blooded psychopath; the guilt written all over the ghost's face was plain as day to Danny. Then again, it was a guilt that he _himself_ knew entirely too well having had it as a constant companion all those years spent alone in the Wisconsin wilderness.

            _Maybe Tucker_ is _onto something._ He mused, the recent fight still entirely too clear in his memory. He and Sam would have been toast if not for Dan's timely explosive entrance.

            The awkward silence stretched unbroken for a few moments; even Lancer seemed to have caught a clue that Dan wasn't someone to take lightly. That the now-ghostly teacher seemed completely out of touch with events and didn't know what Dan was responsible for... seemed to be in keeping with his habits when he was alive. Lancer never seemed particularly on top of current events and trends; though that he was about a decade behind on Ghost Zone news was still astonishing.

            "Anyway..." Danny broke the silence, directing attention away from the still-shaken Dan. "We were just-"

            His face lit up at a sudden flash of an idea. "Mr. Lancer, we're trying to... _research_... an ancient ghost named Maghnus, and something called the Watchers. You wouldn't know of anywhere we could look it up, would you?"

            Danny put on his best innocent face, the expression usually reserved for when he was fibbing to his parents years ago. Who better to seek advice from about finding old knowledge than a _teacher_?

            Sam caught on quickly. "Yeah, we _really_ need to find out what we can!"

            Lancer's stern gaze shifted from Dan to the two former students. "And just _why_ do you want to do research so badly? It's not like your grades or your _future_ depend on it."

            Danny cringed under the pointed glance.

            Sam considered their options. There was no reason to hide the truth from Lancer, though it seemed that old habits die hard given she and Danny both had been somewhat evasive in trying to get the teacher's help. If Lancer wasn't aware of the danger they had just barely escaped from, it would just be flat-out cold not to clue him in.

            "Actually, it does, Lancer. The _future_ , that is." Dan loomed behind the two shorter ghosts, apparently having recovered his composure enough to glare and snarl at the teacher. "Because this Maghnus guy is back and if we don't figure out how to stop him, he'll destroy everything and every _one_ , and make cheating on a stupid test _trivial_ in comparison."

            The teacher did something few had the courage to do, and looked Dan square in the eyes as he considered the fire-headed ghost's words. A moment later he digested the information, eyes going wide as he spit out an invective only he could produce.

            " _The Penultimate Truth!_ " Lancer gasped. "How?"

            "Thaaaat's.... what we need to find out." Danny shrugged.

            "Besides what I already _know_ about that gauntlet." Dan hissed.

            Lancer paced in thought for a moment before a flash of an idea jolted him to a stop. "Ghostwriter's library!"

            "Who?" Danny and Sam exchanged looks.

            "A fellow literary aficionado . He has an excellent collection of books." Lancer's smile indicated clearly that he adored the literary treasure trove of this alleged library. "If it's in the history of the Ghost Zone, he probably has it."

            "So stop grinning like a moron and tell us where to find him." Dan snapped. "Since _these_ idiots neglected to mention it, we're a _little_ pressed for time. His armies are already on the loose and I was busy getting these two out of the way."

            "Hey, you were running, too!" Sam hissed. "And I don't see _you_ in any big hurry to go rushing back out there to-"

            "To _what_?" Dan raised one eyebrow.

            "To...." Sam was at a loss for words for just a moment. "I don't know! To do that 'destroy everything' gimmick of yours or something!"

            "Yes, because we **all** know how well _that_ worked the _first_ time I tried that." The fire-headed ghost retorted dryly. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be around to _be_ an ingrate about it."

            The blunt statement stopped the goth ghost in her tracks, speechless. How was someone supposed to respond to that? Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Dan's statement while blunt was nothing short of the truth. If he hadn't shown up and singlehandedly turned the fight around, she and Danny would have been outmatched. Captives at the least, obliterated at the worst.

            " _The Shape of Things to Come_ , people!" Lancer's annoyed interjection cut off further sniping between the two. "Honestly, bickering like a group of _children_!"

            "She started it!"

            "He started it!"

            "Guys, can we just get going?" Danny resisted the urge to facepalm. "And save the arguing for _after_ we know what we're all up against?"

            Dan crossed his arms and offered no further comment, while Sam just pointedly looked away from the tall ghost. Danny sighed silently. Something had definitely changed in Dan's demeanor from what it had been years ago. For one thing, the ghost was rational, if easily annoyed and still clearly inclined to enjoying violence. From his limited knowledge, one couldn't get within a mile of the fire-headed ghost without risking life and limb. Now that no longer seemed to apply.

            Lancer cracked open the door to his lair and peered out. After a moment the teacher threw the door open; the route was clear. "This way."

            The other three filed out after their former instructor, only now realizing that the door to his lair resembled any one of the monotonous doorways from Casper High. The army they'd fled from was gone, probably having stormed right past in the rush to try and catch them earlier. Lancer glanced around briefly and motioned for the rest to follow as he started off in a direction that was seemingly random but thankfully not where they'd come from or where that army presumably had gone.

            Dan fell to the rear of the group, surveying their surroundings. He had no illusions of having any useful aid from any of the others if another fight broke out. Let Sam and his allegedly better half handle the information-gathering; he would stick to his strengths. Let the weaker ghosts do the bookwork; he'd gladly handle the kicking ghost butt that was going to be necessary.

            Needless to say, he was the first to spot the telltale banners of the army bearing down on them.

            "Of course it wouldn't be that simple." Dan growled, catching the attention of the others.

            "Oh great." Danny groaned. "More goons? Can't he come up with something more original than that?"

            " _Heroes and Villains_! That's what you were escaping from?!" Lancer yelped, glancing back at the mass of ghosts.

            Dan sized up the approaching force, almost licking his lips with anticipation. "Lancer. How far is it to this Ghostwriter guy's place?"

            "Not too far." The teacher stammered out, unsettled by the combined threat of the closing army and Dan's intensity. "Same way we've been going, watch for the white statues."

            "What are you planning?" Sam demanded, her thorn whip already conjured and ready for another fight.

            "Oh put that stupid thing away." Dan scoffed. "You idiots go ahead with Lancer."

            "What?" Danny raised one eyebrow, not sure he was hearing the taller ghost correctly.

            "You heard me. You have fun looking through those smelly old _books_." He grinned, fangs showing pure malevolent delight. "While _I_ have **my** fun _here_."

            "You're going to take them all on by yourself?!" Lancer gaped, incredulous. "Are you _insane_?!"

            "According to most people..." There it was, that sadistic purr that was almost synonymous with Dan at his most deranged. "... yes."

            The teacher glanced between Dan and Sam, then toward the approaching enemy force. "Well?"

            "C'mon Sam." Danny tugged his friend's wrist slightly. "If he wants to rough the bad guys up while we get away, let's go! We couldn't find Clockwork, this library may be our only chance to find out about what we're all up against!"

            "But he's-" Sam started to protest.

            "Sam, don't you think I _know_ that already?" Danny interrupted. "But right now, he's probably our only chance at pulling this off."

            "Will you just get _moving_ already?" Dan complained, his attention firmly on the approaching force. "I want you out of my way so _nothing_ interferes with my finishing what I started with Maghnus and his goons."

            The other three ghosts exchanged confused looks before they turned and flew away as fast as they could, leaving Dan the only thing between them and the closing army. The fire-headed ghost smirked wickedly, and abruptly there were four of him.

            "I'm going to _enjoy_ this."

\---

            "Valerie, listen to yourself! Get a grip!" Paulina stood between the huntress and the ghost portal.

            "Paulina, we've got to help Danny and Sam!" Valerie countered. "So get out of the way!"

            "I would have to agree with Miss Sanchez on this, Valerie." Vlad interjected.

            "Stay outta this, Masters!" She hissed in response.

            "Um, Valerie..." Tucker spoke up.

            " _What_?!"

            Tucker cringed at the shriek. Valerie was like a caged animal, pacing the lab floor angrily and bristling with weapons. Thankfully most of the Patrol managed to make itself scarce after word got around that the Commander wanted to launch an ill-planned sortie into the Ghost Zone itself.

            "Okay, one; we don't know where Danny and Sam are."

            "They told you where they were on the phone!"

            "Yes, they did." Tucker resisted the urge to massage his temples. "That was over an hour ago, and the call got cut off."

            "Well it'd still be a good place to start looking!" The huntress argued.

            "About that.... Valerie, I don't suppose you happen to know how far Walker's prison is from your portal?" Vlad inquired. "Or rather, the ruins since the prison was destroyed _years_ ago?"

            "Well, I-"

            "It would take at least another hour to _get_ there." Tucker picked up the debate. "Two, we don't even know if they're still alright, or if they got away. And three, we don't know what's waiting in there. If it's that Maghnus dude's army, do you really think your Patrol is equipped to tackle _that_?"

            "We've been fighting _him_ for so long, so-"

            "Dan is just _one_ ghost!" Tucker shouted in exasperation. "Sure, he's powerful, but he's still just one guy. All your patrol tactics and training have been to deal with _one guy_! One ghost!"

            "What's _that_ supposed to mean?!"

            "What he means, Valerie, is that you and your patrol have no experience whatsoever in real military tactics and combat strategy." Vlad helpfully clarified. "You are all well trained in dealing with single opponents... how would you plan to deal with a force of ghosts working as a unit that has your force outnumbered several dozen to one?"

            "We'd-"

            "Go in, all guns blazing?" The billionaire interrupted. "Rather a spectacular waste of effort and certain to fail. You have no idea what the terrain is, or what you might be facing. You would be running into a fight completely and totally _blind_."

            "Well what about _him_? He took off after them, right?" Valerie changed the subject, unable to argue the point.

            "Will you quit assuming he's going to do something bad, Valerie?" Tucker facepalmed. "Just this one time?"

            "How can you expect me to trust that ghost?! He's a monster, or have you forgotten about all the people he's killed?!" Valerie snarled.

            "Regardless of that, we're no better equipped to find Dan in the Ghost Zone as we are to locate the others." Vlad thankfully interrupted again, before the angry huntress could launch into another diatribe. "It would be wiser to wait here for some signal from them."

            "You want me to just _wait_ while who-knows-what is after-" Valerie shouted indignantly.

            "Danny and Sam were trying to find information so we'll know _what_ we're all up against!" Tucker reminded the huntress. "And if Dan went after them..."

            "He didn't break out until after he heard they were in trouble." Paulina noted with a frown. "I hate to agree with them, Valerie, but I think our only choice is to hope he's going to do something to help."

            "You think I'm honestly going to settle for _that_?" The huntress bristled.

            "No, Valerie." Vlad remarked tiredly. "I think that you are going to _have_ to settle for that."

            Valerie snarled a litany of invective at everyone and stormed from the room.

\---

            As they sped away, gigantic explosions started to tear through the approaching ghosts; brilliant green fireballs comparable to small nuclear blasts, their loud blasts stringing together into an incessant roar. Dan _had_ been holding back in that first fight when he rescued Danny and Sam; he certainly didn't seem to be holding back now!

            " _The Fifth Horseman_!" Lancer shouted over the increasingly distant explosions, eyes wide as he glanced back at the sight.

            At their currently increasing distance, Dan was no longer visible; just the blasts of green energy disrupting a tide of red and green ghosts. It was clear Dan wasn't just fighting with brute force; the blasts were all targeting the front line of the mass, throwing their advance into chaos.

            _He's buying as much time as possible._ Danny narrowed his eyes in thought as the trio continued toward the library. _Instead of just charging into the middle of them and going berserk. He's keeping them busy, and keeping himself in between them and us. But why is he_ helping _us?_

The noise gradually faded with distance, becoming a low rumble; the explosions a flickering green star miles away. Lancer changed direction, pointing down. "There it is!"

            The building below looked like a bizarre combination of a bookshelf and an old mansion. The facade seemed to be white stone of some sort, perhaps limestone or marble, the entrance watched by a pair of lion statues.

            "I'm surprised this place is still intact after all of _his_ rampaging." Sam snorted as she landed.

            "Sam, give it a rest, please?" Danny sighed as he touched down.

            Lancer seemed perfectly at ease, the teacher floated up the steps and knocked on the door. A moment later the door opened, the occupant peering outside. As far as ghosts went, he was one of the more 'normal' looking ones; ashen complexion, slightly unkempt hair and goatee, plain grey attire under a long purple coat.

            He had 'eccentric writer' practically written all over him.

            "Sorry to drop by unannounced, Ghostwriter." Lancer greeted the spook. "It's a bit of an emergency involving some of my.... former students."

            "Ah, William!" The ghost's face lit up in a grin, showing pointed teeth. "Come in, it's been too long anyway! I have a new manuscript completed that I'd like your opinion on!"

            Danny and Sam exchanged baffled looks behind the teacher. Who knew that the man had an actual first name?

            The trio followed the Ghostwriter inside, the building's interior consisting almost entirely of a towering round room filled with books. Wings of the building to the left and right were darkened, but it was a likely guess that they too were filled to the brim with books as well. A large keyboard assembly dominated the center of the room, a neat stack of papers sitting to one side loosely bound.

            "I'd love to, but right now my students and I need to do some research." Lancer turned the manuscript down. "Apparently it's urgent."

            "You know my library is always open to a friend." The ghost nodded. "So what are you looking for?"

            "Actually..." Sam took the story from there. "We need to find out anything we can about a ghost named Maghnus. He's supposed to be older than the Ghost King, and armed with some weird magic gauntlet."

            "And he's currently running loose in the Ghost Zone and we think he's planning to destroy the entire world." Danny added lamely.

            Ghostwriter's eyebrows shot up well above the rims of his glasses. "Really now?"

            Lancer nodded. "In fact, we just barely got away from this Maghnus' army on the way here."

            "Ancient Ghost Zone history..." Ghostwriter tugged on his jagged goatee as he mulled it over. "I might have something... unfortunately I fear most of my collection only goes back to Pariah Dark's first reign."

            "It's worth a shot." Sam sighed. "We couldn't find Clockwork to ask _him_!"

            "Yeah." Danny agreed. "His tower is empty, I think something bad happened to him."

            "Well, this way then." Ghostwriter gestured to one of the wings. "The more pairs of hands looking through the stacks, the better!"

            The slender ghost wasn't kidding. Row upon row of books stretched from floor to ceiling, a veritable maze filled with tomes of every shape and size. Trying to find one specific piece of information seemed likely to take hours, even days!

            "Oh man..." Danny's jaw just about hit the floor. "Where do we even _start_ looking in this mess?"

            "Mess?" Ghostwriter glowered down at Danny, indignant. "This is the greatest collection of written works in the entire Ghost Zone!"

            "It's a mess." Sam stated flatly.

            "Perhaps a little respect, Miss Manson?" Lancer remarked dryly. "We'll need to split up."

            The younger ghosts grumbled as the group divided up among the stacks to start scanning the titles. The high shelves stifled conversation, each member of the group too intent on trying to read sometimes illegible titles to make idle chat anyway.

            " _History of Ghost Zone Arifacts_..." Sam mumbled, reading the book spines as she scanned the nearest shelf. " _Escape from Walker's Jail_... hey, I wonder if that's about that one time Danny was arrested?"

            "What is this doing here?!" The Ghostwriter's annoyed shout cut across the shelves, drawing curious glances from the ends of aisles.

            "What is what doing where?" Danny asked.

            "This book!" The ghostly author held up a thick, time-worn tome. "It should be under 'W', not in the middle of the 'A's!"

            "How'd it get there?" Lancer raised an eyebrow, apparently more familiar with his friend's habits.

            "I don't know... Come to think of it, I don't recognize this one at all." Ghostwriter frowned, studying the worn leather-bound volume in his hands. " _The War of the Ascendancy_.... it sounds like it should in the fiction wing, not the history-"

            "Whoa, wait, did you say 'ascendancy'?" Sam interrupted.

            "That's what those ghosts were babbling about before!" Danny yelped. "They wanted to know where the other half of it was... whatever _that_ even is!"

            Ghostwriter obliged the pair and set the dusty book down on the nearest table, carefully flipping the tome open with a creaking of old bindings. The rest crowded behind him to read it over his shoulder.

            " _The War of the Ascendancy: The History of the War and the Sealed King..._ " The ghostly author read aloud. " _This account of the ancient war has been penned by the last of the Watchers to witness it, so that the knowledge of the past will be available to the future._ "

            They all exchanged surprised looks.

            "I think we found what we're looking for."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I freely admit, I had entirely too much fun with Lancer's book-title exclamations. :P


	14. The History of the War

**The History of the War**  
"You take a mortal man  
And put him in control  
Watch him become a God  
Watch peoples heads"  
_-"Symphony of Destruction" – Nightwish_ **  
**

            _In the beginning, ours was a world of peace. Created by means we cannot know or understand, this world was made, and ourselves with it. It was a simple world, at first; given not to thought and reason… nor to conflict and strife._

            “Does the book say who the author is?” Danny frowned, studying the weathered pages as though he could divine the writer's identity from the faded script.

            “Nothing beyond the ‘last of the Watchers to witness it.'” Ghostwriter flipped carefully to the front page again to double check the book’s brief introduction.

            "Whatever _it_ is." Sam noted dryly.

            _So it was for a very long time, beings in this vast world of aether; existence without consciousness. As the time that was past grew however, so did this world, and the beings that dwelt within it. Form rose from chaos, awareness from ignorance. Out of the aether soared great mountains and vast plains, deep oceans and meandering rivers; peopled by all manner of creatures, some benign and others less so._

            "What is this? Some sort of creation of the world story?" Sam quirked an eyebrow.

            "I dunno... I think it's talking about the Ghost Zone, not the real world." Danny pondered aloud. "Except it's not describing any part of the Ghost Zone I know."

            "Mister Fenton, Miss Manson, perhaps we would find out if you stopped interrupting?" Lancer rolled his eyes at his two former students.

            _With awareness came new things. Hope, longing, joy; hate, greed, despair. It was a lawless land, for law did not yet exist. It was the chaos this world spawned from; chaos given form, given a new name: anarchy. It was a land in need of guidance, of a leader to bring order to the maelstrom._

            _I was one of the first to rise from ignorance to awareness, and I began to gather like-minded beings to my cause. Reason convinced some, but not all; there were many who simply sought power with which to force their will on the rest. None of us had the strength to force a change on anyone; not even my own unique skills were sufficient to make such a massive change all at once. So we began to Watch events as they unfolded; with my foresight, we were able to create change, though slowly. We adjusted things, nudged others toward certain choices at the critical moment._

_It was not an obvious power, our organization. We had not the words for it back then, but we formed a shadow government, slowly bending the ancient warlords to accomplish our objectives for us. We never gave a name to our group, yet somehow over the eons we were accurately branded as the Watchers. It was our creed, our mission. To watch, but to only interfere where it was necessary. To nudge the present, correct the past, and establish the future._

_To this end, we came to support the Dark brothers. Maghnus, the elder of the two, was cunning and intelligent; like the Watchers, he desired to bring order to anarchy. Pariah, the younger, was a skilled warrior and an excellent tactician; his support was an invaluable asset in our goal. Before long, nearly all the lands beneath the violet sky were under the control of Lord Maghnus and his forces. The realm of spirits was at last ruled by a singular monarch, much as were the lands of the living, though only a very few of the Watchers knew of that other world. It was a closely guarded secret among us; those that learned of it, and those few that remembered anything of their own time spent in that realm prior to manifesting in our world._

            “Wait, then these Watcher guys _helped_ Maghnus?” Sam blurted. “But to hear Dora tell it, he sounds like he _hated_ them!”

            “And the Ghost King too.” Danny mused. “There’s something weird in this book.”

            “It _is_ a common literary plot to have a traitor in the family.” Lancer noted thoughtfully. "But it sounds like the ancient Ghost Zone was more... like the real world."

            "The real world?" His former students glanced back at the dead teacher.

            "I don't see any continental landmasses or oceans anywhere around here." He replied drolly. "Do you?"

            "This illustration looks nothing like the Ghost Zone anyone _here_ knows." Ghostwriter held the book up, pointing to a full page illustration that looked for all the world like any average slice of coastline. The only thing that indicated it _was_ supposed to be the Ghost Zone were the whirls of black and purple in the sky, and the fact that the water was bright ectoplasmic green. The colors were faded with obvious age, but the landscape shown absolutely could not have been the real world.

            “If that’s the Ghost Zone… what the heck happened to it? This mansion should be grounded if _that_ is supposed to be _this_ world.” It was Sam’s turn to stare at the old book as if she could conjure answers from its faded pages.

            “Shall I continue?” Ghostwriter set the book back down on the table.

            _I began to see, however, that too much order could become just as dangerous as the anarchy we had worked so hard to overcome. Convincing my fellow Watchers of this however, was difficult at best._

_"You would give up everything we have worked for, merely on this feeling?"_

_"Surely you are losing your touch, we have come so close to taming the chaos of our world. You cannot possibly think that going back now is a wise choice?"_

_I was rebuked and scoffed at nearly every turn. Our organization maintained its support of Lord Maghnus despite my urging caution, that we had done enough and it was time to withdraw to let things happen on their own. To manipulate events required being aloof from them, to view them without bias that could taint the actions taken. That lack of bias was fading swiftly and could have torn the Watchers apart if left to our own devices. I was already starting to gather my own circle of confidants within the organization, planning a coup to return the Watchers to our original role as distant guides rather than the loyal dogs of the King it was becoming._

_Lord Maghnus was a harsh master over the lands he controlled. Harsh, brutal when provoked, but not senseless. He was not necessarily a fair lord, nor a just one, but to his credit he did not indulge in cruelty for cruelty's sake. The worst of his rages were always directed at those who opposed him. He was content to leave his subjects to their own devices so long as they did what he asked of them, which in those days was not much. Border patrol and other military service were the most common of his demands, and amid the turmoil of the times they were reasonable enough._

_Still, he was powerful, and even without our aid his lands grew greater by the day. He was not a distant monarch like some of the other warlords; he was never content to merely sit in the safety of his Citadel and rule from afar. If he was not out leading his forces into battle, he was exploring the fringes of our world; those places where the land ended and the void began. It was while he was away from the Citadel that I took my cautious steps to counter my fellow Watchers and work on the coup my faction was plotting._

_I suppose now however, that ours were not the only hands meddling with fate._

"Well there's your reason he hates the Watchers." Lancer observed. "Whoever wrote this was planning against him."

            "I wonder who this guy even is." Danny noted. "And how old this book is."

            "Far older than the Ghost King's history, clearly." Ghostwriter observed. "Most of the Ghost Zone residents knew of Pariah; none of us knew about this Maghnus."

            "And Dora's one of the oldest ghosts I know." Sam glanced at another illustration, clearly depicting Maghnus riding some sort of winged beast into a surreal landscape that looked a bit more like the modern Ghost Zone. "So that's what? A thousand years, and Pariah was around well before she was."

            "Hey!" Danny yelped, gabbing a finger at the picture-Maghnus' left arm. "He doesn't have that gauntlet thing that he's supposed to have now."

            "Maybe the guy who drew the picture forgot it?"

            "I find that highly unlikely." Lancer said thoughtfully. "It's supposed to be a powerful item, is it not? Look at the way that arm is raised- clearly it's to draw the reader's eye to that arm... and maybe to the fact there's no gauntlet."

_It was his return from one such trip into the aether that tore my plans to pieces and added a new urgency to my cause. For he returned from this journey not with hands empty; but with a bounty of things discovered that would reshape our entire world._

_Even now I do not know the origins of the items Lord Maghnus found; nor the purpose for which they were made. Whether they were the mere conjuring of the void, or perhaps the forgotten tools of an unknown creator; all that was certain is that these items contained power beyond measure. Even the Watchers, with our vast store of knowledge gained over the ages had no names to put to them._

_The first two, which we termed the Lesser Ascendancy, were items of sheer power. A small ring, and a flaming crown; when worn the user's strength and power was increased a thousandfold or more. Even a weak ghost could, with these items, become a warlord fit to overwhelm Pariah and very nearly a match to Lord Maghnus._

"The Ring of Rage!" Danny gasped, recognizing that description.

            "And the Crown of Fire.... Maghnus had them first?" Sam gawked.

            "All the trappings of a political plot." Ghostwriter quirked an eyebrow. "A large kingdom, great power; and an evil advisor plotting against the throne."

            "It's a classic literary device." Lancer nodded. "Though it seems this time that it's being told by the 'evil advisor.' But then, you would _know_ that if you'd paid more attention in school."

            Danny tried not to roll his eyes at the zing.

            _The Lesser Ascendancy alone was cause for concern, however these two items were as nothing compared to the remaining two; what we came to call the Greater Ascendancy, and what the survivors simply came to call the Ascendancy itself. A pair of armored gauntlets, elaborate in their metalwork and encrusted with large gems. A study of opposites: one was bright gold, with colorful gems adorning it; the other bright silver with stones of black and white, cold and distant next to its more vibrantly colored partner._

_They were pretty enough things to look at, but the kind of power both command is dangerous and tempting beyond measure. With both, the wearer literally holds the power to create and to destroy in his hands. The silver gauntlet is Destruction incarnate; destruction of life, void to tear apart form, rigid reason to tear fantasy asunder. The golden one is the opposite; fantasy made real, the impossible given form, life produced from a void._

_Equipped with all four, Lord Maghnus truly was unstoppable, almost a god with his strength. Those who resisted him were culled from existence with a flick of the wrist; those who obeyed were given wealth and power with a wave of the hand. In a way, the arrival of the Ascendancy was a blessing: with its power, Lord Maghnus was able to build up his lands and make things much better for those who looked to him._

_Those who did not..._

"Wow." Sam commented lamely as they all peered at another illustration, this one showing Maghnus in what could only be full regalia. Crown atop his head, the glimmer of armor on both arms; the landscape to his right verdant and full of happy ghosts, and to his left... nothing.

            Nothing save for a handful of ghosts contorted in agony, surrounded by a cloud of silver that time had faded to dull grey.

_Still, the timing was fortuitous for my faction. Had we made our move, I imagine in hindsight that we would not have succeeded. The Ascendancy forced us to reconsider our plans; and most importantly, it unified the Watchers again. Instead of the fledgling factions that had been forming, we were once more united in our purpose. Even in disagreement about our role in events, one thing we all agreed upon was that the Ascendancy was dangerous; a power such as that was bound to corrupt the user given sufficient time._

_The question, of course, became how do we stop, or even curtail someone with that much power?_

_A frontal assault was simply impossible. There was no force in the world that could compete with Lord Maghnus and the full power of the complete Ascendancy. We could not topple the warlord unless we could get the Ascendancy from him, yet our goal was not originally to topple Lord Maghnus entirely. It was a conundrum with no ready solution, certainly none that would resolve the problem cleanly... or quickly._

_An idea began to form when one of our agents, a warrior in the service of both of the Dark brothers reported that all was not well between the two. Lord Maghnus was unaware, but his brother Pariah was coming to resent serving his more powerful brother. Cut from the same cloth, they were; proud, powerful, and always craving more glory. The other Watchers all agreed that Pariah was our best hope to deal with the threat of Lord Maghnus and the Ascendancy, but I didn't agree with this assessment; at least not entirely. I had learned discretion by then, however, and began to lay my own plans without the knowledge of my peers. Had they understood the true scope of my plan, my own fate would have been sealed._

_We had our agent quietly fuel Pariah's resentment, all the while making it seem as though it were Pariah convincing our agent to help him; and not our agent planting the ideas in the first place. Pariah had to be tricked into moving forward with our plan as if it were his own; for only he could get close enough to Lord Maghnus without raising suspicion._

            "A brother's betrayal _and_ an evil advisor." Lancer raised one eyebrow.

            "I'm not liking this guy's talk about plans and fate." Danny frowned.

            "I'm with Danny. It sounds like this Watcher guy wasn't just planning to use the Ghost King against Maghnus, but..." Sam paused, organizing her thoughts. "He makes it sound like he's betraying the rest of the Watchers... his own friends!"

            "Not so much that he _is_ betraying them." Ghostwriter countered, tone foreboding. "But that he _will_ betray them. We aren't that far into this story yet."

            "But he's going to." Sam grumbled. "So that gauntlet Maghnus used to take over Dora's castle... that's got to be the destructive one. So what happened to the gold one? We _know_ what happened to the Ring and the Crown."

            A quiet moment fell over the room as Danny and Sam both considered where that power was currently being applied. Dan had put himself in the line of fire to bail their butts out; how was the fire headed ghost faring against Maghnus' army? More importantly, _why_ was he even helping them? Had the ghost really turned over a new leaf, or was helping them merely secondary to unleashing further violence?

            _Following another venture into the aether, Lord Maghnus returned with yet another interesting item, a scroll of parchment charged with power. A map. I already knew of the artifact, but hid this knowledge from the others. It was a useful tool, a map and mode of transit from one location in our world to another... and to the world of the humans. It was part of my plan from the start._

_To the horror of my fellow Watchers, Lord Maghnus took full advantage of this new ability. First traveling to the farthest reaches of the land he controlled, and then beyond. It was inevitable that one day, he would ask the map to take him someplace he had not yet been before. In a flash, our oldest secret was revealed; Lord Maghnus was taken to the world of mankind._

_It was a world utterly foreign to the monarch. Blue skies and an alien sun he had never seen shone down upon him. As happens often with the residents of the spiritual world, Lord Maghnus was utterly enthralled by this new land, craving to explore it and eventually dominate it._

_However, the denizens of this new world did not react to his appearance the way he expected. Here, he was just another being, an equal; a conqueror to be obeyed. There, he was reviled, branded as a demon; a monster bent on their destruction without recourse. He did not stay long, for he was not given to discussion; trying to convince these ancient humans that he was there to explore and eventually add their lands to his empire rather than to simply destroy them wore down what patience he had for it. He could have just eliminated them all, but what good was land without the loyal subjects to work it in his name?_

_Pariah was waiting when his brother returned, and he asked what had agitated Lord Maghnus so greatly. Not knowing that his brother was plotting treachery, Maghnus told Pariah what had happened and how the humans had shown utter hatred or irrational terror at the sight of him._

_Pariah at last saw the opportunity he had been waiting for, and suggested that his older brother was clearly tired from such an experience, and that he should take a well-deserved rest. He promised to Lord Maghnus that he would raise a massive army for his liege, a force with which to conquer the humans and put them in their proper place._

_Lord Maghnus agreed, and slept deeply._

_Pariah was raising an army, but not for the purpose he had promised. No, Pariah dispatched his right-hand servant, the agent in our service on an errand. While Maghnus slept, Pariah intended to take the steps needed for the younger brother to topple the elder from power._

"Hey, is that the Fright Knight in that picture?" Danny pointed at the familiar black and purple figure illustrated sneaking into a massive castle while Pariah was depicted on the opposite page leading a skeleton army.

            "Is it?" Sam peered closely at the book. "It is! Wow, guess that guy really gets around, doesn't he?"

            "Quite the treachery. It seems to be that our mysterious narrator planted that map for Maghnus to discover." Lancer nodded sagely at his own observation.

            "Really?" Danny glanced over at the teacher. "How do you know?"

            "It's quite simple." Lancer crossed his arms, tone taking on the familiar drone of lecture. "He says he knew of the map, but withheld that information from the rest of the Watchers. If he is so committed to whatever this plan of his actually is, would he leave something he knew about like that laying around for no reason?"

            "He's using the Ghost King like a tool to forward whatever plan this is." Ghostwriter agreed. "And clearly toppling Maghnus was part of it."

            _Pariah dispatched his most loyal assistant to the Citadel, not knowing that it was one of our agents. While Pariah raised a force to revolt against his brother, it was the Fright Knight's duty to slip into the castle, into the private quarters of Lord Maghnus to accomplish a single goal._

_He was to steal the Ascendancy._

_Unfortunately, even the best laid plans of the Watchers were not perfect, and this was no exception. He was able to get half of the Ascendancy, the ring and one gauntlet, before Lord Maghnus was aware of the disturbance and awoke. Outraged by the treachery, Maghnus flew into a mighty fury, and it was only by luck and quickly fleeing the Citadel that the Fright Knight was able to escape with as much as he had obtained._

_The time for planning had ended. With the Ascendancy divided between the brothers, I had come to the end of my planning; the outcome was no longer in my hands, nor that of the other Watchers._

_It was to be war unlike any our world had known._


	15. The War of the Ascendancy

**The War of the Ascendancy**  
"The earth starts to rumble  
World powers fall  
A'warring for the heavens  
A peaceful man stands tall"  
_-"Symphony of Destruction" - Nightwish_

            "So let's get the story straight." Sam mused. "So Maghnus had these magic gauntlets, note the plural, and the Ring and Crown. These Watcher guys originally helped him, but set him up for the fall... the narrator in particular."

            "Right. By turning the Ghost King against his brother." Danny agreed. "And we know where the Ring and the Crown are. _He_ has them. And we know where _one_ of those gauntlets are. I guess those goons we got away from earlier thought we had the other gauntlet... the other half of this Ascendancy thing."

            "But that still doesn't explain what Maghnus is up to other than trying to find it. According to this book, he was just your run of the mill tyrant. Those goons revere him like some sort of god!" The goth heaved a sigh of frustration.

            "Well maybe we should finish going through the story." Lancer remarked dryly at the displays of frustration. "And maybe we'll find those answers."

            "An excellent proposition." Ghostwriter quirked an eyebrow as he turned his attention back to the book.

            _I had prepared for this eventuality, and retreated to my own personal fortress to watch events unfold. The rest of the Watchers, save for a few traitors, had little choice now but to choose sides and throw their collective fate in with Maghnus or Pariah._

_Most sided with Pariah._

_The first sign that the end times had come to the old order was an explosion. In his rage, Maghnus destroyed his own Citadel with the remaining gauntlet; a failed effort to try and stop the Fright Knight from escaping with the other one. Still in a rage, he marshaled his armies to go forth and deal with the traitor._

_His armies were vastly depleted in size, however. Pariah had planned well, and fully half of Maghnus' forces defected to pledge loyalty to the traitor. It was a shock Maghnus had not been expecting, a shock that shook him to his core when combined with his recent encounters with the human world._

_"Brother!" His voice boomed across the land, full of rage that even had his own forces quaking with terror. "Return that which you have taken, if you value at all your existence! Surrender and I may yet show my own brother mercy despite this folly!"_

_Pariah was past being bullied by Maghnus and his threats, however; the countless years spent in thankless service had worn his fear down. With half of the Ascendancy his now to command, he had rightfully grown bold. Weapon gripped tightly in one hand, Pariah faced down his brother and screamed defiance to shake the heavens._

_"Never! Your time is at an end, brother! Never again will I serve you!"_

_If Maghnus was angry before, this final betrayal by his own brother whom he had trusted completely left him unspeakably furious. The world as he had seen it had turned out far different than he ever expected, and that is probably when the thought came to him in his fury._

_If the world would not bow to him as it should, then perhaps he needed to remake it so it would._

"Wow, god-complex much?" Sam shuddered. "Could he really DO that with those gauntlets?"

            "It seems that way." Ghostwriter flipped the page, revealing another illustration.

            This one spanned two pages; Maghnus on the left with his giant sword raised in anger, a swirl of black and silver energies around his extended left arm and the gauntlet. Standing opposite was Pariah, spiked mace raised in defiance, right arm extended with whirls of red, blue, and yellow around the golden gauntlet. The entire image had an unsettling symmetry to it, the brothers in mirrored stances with their forces arrayed around them.

            "Hey, the Ghost King looks different than he did when I fought him." Danny observed, pointing at the figure's matched set of horns. "One of those was broken, and he had that eyepatch."

            " _You_ fought him?" Lancer looked incredulously at his errant former student.

            "You mean..." Sam stared at the clueless teacher. "You don't _know_?"

            "Know what?" The teacher irritably replied.

            "William, you honestly never _knew_ that he-?" Even the Ghostwriter looked shocked at his friend's ignorance.

            "He _what_?" Lancer was rapidly tired of all the suspense.

            "Mr. Lancer..." Danny facepalmed. "I... was the ghost kid back then. The one that stole the ecto-skeleton from FentonWorks and went off to fight the Ghost King."

            Silence fell over the group as the statement sunk in.

            " ** _TRINITY'S CHILD!_** " Lancer blurted, nearly falling out of his chair in surprise. "That was... you?! Then what about that other guy with-"

            "Yeah, that's a long story that we don't have time for right now, Mr. Lancer." Sam cut the teacher off before he could finish. Explaining the fiasco surrounding Danny and Dan and the test answers was not high on the goth's list of favorite things to do; especially not to Lancer who seemed to have quite the fixation on that particular incident. "Let's get back to the story that's a bit more important to the current situation, okay?"

_Their armies were largely secondary at that point; though they fought one another regardless of the fact that they could do little to assist or hinder their respective leaders._

_The first clash of the Ascendancy was mild compared to that which was to come, but even that was far beyond the most powerful display of power our world had known by that time. Reality and nothingness collided, shattering the field of battle and sending unnatural formations of stone and existence reaching for the sky in impossible combinations. It was combat unlike any could prepare for; and neither of the brothers was quite yet ready to fully test the limits of their power._

_Before long, the battlefield alone was not enough to contain their war. Both took to the sky, powers and weapons clashing. Creation was countered by destruction was countered by creation; the land below was torn asunder by the conflicting powers, the shattered remains twisting at the whimsy of the clashing energies. The armies of each eventually had to give up trying to battle; there was nothing they could do to affect the outcome of their masters' war._

_Indeed, it was challenge enough simply to avoid to wild powers raging above._

_Maghnus tried at first to simply strike Pariah down with bolts of pure death, pure nothingness. Pariah of course countered, creating walls and obstacles that made such a direct approach useless. His counterattack lashed out at the armies below; twisting the shapes of his minions into hideous, powerful new forms. Insane with the transformations, these beasts raged rampant, only vaguely directed toward their true target Maghnus._

_With a mighty shout of rage, Maghnus funneled his might through his gauntlet and tore the beasts apart, splitting the continent beneath them. The waters began to slip through the cracks, the stone crying out its torment as these ungodly forces tortured it._

_Neither had a clear advantage, so steadily the forces lashing out increased in their intensity as the brothers jockeyed for leverage. Many of the Watchers attempted to assist, though sadly most of those who tried were cut down, unable to cope with the maelstrom._

_There was one solitary, vital flaw in Pariah's plan though. The power of the complete Ascendancy was divided evenly in half; however, beneath that power was one immutable fact._

_Pariah was still weaker than Maghnus_

            "Okay, I thought the apocalyptic war is supposed to happen at the _end_ of the world, not at the beginning of it." Sam groused.

            "More like the middle of it." Danny corrected, perusing another two-page illustration of the ancient battle. "According to this, it'd been forever since I guess time started."

            "I shudder to imagine what it must have been like." Ghostwriter remarked with the promised shudder. "Imagine! The Ghost Zone with that much landmass, entire continents... like a _planet_!"

            "And this Ascendancy war tore it completely to bits." Lancer gave a pointed look to the nearest window and its bleak, empty vista.

            The next several illustrations in the book supported the teacher's theory; the two giants clashing, the land below shattering like so much glass, the minions twisted into grotesque and downright freakish beasts. Several ghosts shrouded in hooded cloaks, leaping into the fray on one page; those same ghosts, presumably the Watchers, ripped apart in a haze of silver on the following one. It was really quite detailed, causing a long moment of queasy silence to fall over the room.

            "Let's move on, shall we?" Ghostwriter found his voice and flipped the page.

            _In a clash of might that fractured our very world to its core, Maghnus gained the upper hand. With a mighty blow, Pariah was badly injured; robbed of sight forever in one eye, the silver gauntlet tearing foul green slashes across the renegade's face. It was by only the narrowest of margins that the blow didn't cleave Pariah's head from his shoulders._

_"This is what your rebellion has come to!" Maghnus boomed, knocking Pariah to the ground, hand tight on his brother's throat. "And once you and yours are slain to the man, I shall..."_

_Maghnus paused then, thinking about the recent betrayal, about the humans that had spurned him so badly. The world was flawed, he realized. Flawed to its core, so he thought; those flaws something he could fix, he could change. After all, with the power of the Ascendancy, he could do anything he wished._

_Including destroy and remake the entire world in his image._

_"I shall fix this world, and rule eternally as its king!"_

_As I watched from the safety of my own retreat, the remaining Watchers did exactly as I predicted. If they knew that I had included them as mere pawns in my long-term plan, I am certain they would have been after me. After all, my plan called not only for betraying Lord Maghnus; but also for the eventual betrayal of Pariah by the handful of Watchers that would survive, and the betrayal of the Watchers themselves. But I digress._

"Wow, this guy sounds like a real jerk." Danny remarked. "I thought he was one of these Watcher guys, and he's sounding more like he was just tolerating them!"

            "Or using them for this big secret plan of his." Sam agreed. "I guess that band of ancient ghosts that sealed Pariah up forever ago were the remaining Watchers."

            "I think _we_ need to be worrying about what precisely this long term plan is." Lancer counted off on one hand. "What are his motives? What goal is he trying to achieve with all of this?"

            "Not to mention whether or not his plan is complete already, whether or not he still even exists." Ghostwriter added.

            "Geez, you guys sound like teachers." Danny quipped.

            "In case you'd _forgotten_ , Mister Fenton-" Lancer retorted dryly. "I _was_ a teacher."

            "Okay guys, less witty banter, more finding out what happened?" Sam interrupted before the conversation could get too far off track.

            _The remaining Watchers gathered their combined strength and attacked Maghnus. It was not enough to actually harm him, but it afforded a vital distraction; he released his death's grip on Pariah so that he could tear into my former comrades with ruthless abandon. Pariah took the opportunity to put some distance between himself and his brother, a momentary chance to try and recover from his disfiguring injuries and figure out what to do next. He was wounded, and though the difference in power was slight, it was still a difference that had to be overcome or circumvented._

_The Fright Knight, in a rare display of initiative, took the opportunity to do something else entirely; it was his actions that ultimately determined the victor and brought the world-shattering War of the Ascendancy to its uneasy conclusion._

_In the chaos the Watchers caused, he rushed in astride his fearsome mount. Maghnus was too busy tearing Watchers to bits to avoid or counter the attack; even gods cannot fend off assaults from every direction at once. In a single pass, the Fright Knight reached out and made a truly lucky grab._

_He snatched the Crown of Fire from atop Maghnus' head._

_"You traitor!" Maghnus bellowed, trying to throw off the rest of his assailants to retrieve the crown._

_In a brilliant display of horsemanship, the Fright Knight managed to evade the ruby blasts and silver bolts as his Nightmare charged fearlessly to where Pariah was getting his bearings. The Watchers, as well as the remnants of Pariah's army threw themselves at Maghnus with renewed vigor; the Fright Knight had to reach Pariah with the crown at all costs, lest the war be irreversibly lost. All the sacrifices made over the course of that terrible battle would be worth it if they could achieve that single goal; especially since Maghnus had just stated his new intentions for once he had reclaimed the Ascendancy. It was generally unknown if Maghnus could in fact destroy and then remake all of creation with the power of the Ascendancy; however it was not something that any of us wished to chance finding out._

_"Lord Pariah!" Fright Knight sprung from his steed, throwing the flaming crown to the injured warlord._

_"You shall never seize my throne!" Maghnus snarled, launching another continent-cracking bolt of nothingness from his left arm. "NEVER!"_

_He must have thought for a moment in the resulting flare of power that the killing blow had struck true, for Maghnus raised his blade to the sky._

_"See what fate happens to all that dare challenge me?" The tyrant proclaimed. "Not even my own kindred can hope to bare steel against me and survive to tell of it-"_

_Then his cry of triumph died on his lips._

_"We will see who is stronger now, brother!" Pariah came barreling out of the maelstrom with renewed might. "The tools of your own power have all turned against you!"_

_With all the force of a raging bull, Pariah crashed into Maghnus and sent the tyrant reeling from the shock of the blow. Now armed with fully three quarters of the complete Ascendancy, the balance of power had shifted._

"So... why is Maghnus still around, and why didn't Pariah grab that other gauntlet?" Danny muttered rhetorically over an image of the Ghost King's resurgence.

            "Obviously the story isn't going in the direction you're expecting it to." Lancer lectured. "The logical choice would be to destroy his older brother."

            Ghostwriter nodded his agreement. "But something clearly prevented him from doing so."

            "What, are you trying to say the Ghost King got cold feet at the end?" Sam raised one eyebrow, clearly doubting that theory. "Somehow I don't see Pariah as being the kind of guy to get squeamish about killing his own family."

            "That is just _one_ possibility, Miss Manson." Lancer retorted.

            "Can we get off the subject of killing family?" Danny murmured, not meeting anyone's gaze. "Please?"

            "Yes, let's." Lancer apparently caught onto his former student's unease, while Sam looked chagrined once the goth realized what she had accidently reminded her friend about.

            _Perhaps, had Pariah gotten the destructive gauntlet and not the golden one, he would have been able to destroy Maghnus, and thus the tale would be done. Unfortunately, he could not simply destroy his brother, not with a weapon meant to make things rather than unmake them. Despite his power being boosted by the combined strength of the ring and crown, his own power was still insufficient to finish the task that way._

_I would have liked for it to be over then, but unfortunately even the best laid plans can have holes in them, the minor details that even the greatest masterminds cannot control. I cannot fault the Ghost King for his actions however; the way in which Pariah handled Maghnus brought peace to our world, and would work quite well with my contingency plan._

_He pinched reality. The effects rolled across our world and the world of men; what landmasses in our world that remained were cast adrift in broken fragments, while a great volcano erupted and covered the Earth in a cloak of darkness. Few would survive, but those few were far better than the total loss of everything had Maghnus not been stopped._

_While Maghnus was reeling, Pariah used the gauntlet to trap his brother and the enemy army by folding our entire world. It was just a small fold; something larger would likely have destroyed everything rather than the twisted mess our world became. However, by pinching reality around Maghnus, Pariah was able to create a small pocket of reality, cut off from the rest like a sheet of fabric that has been bundled up and twisted. Thus cut off from the battlefield and trapped in what I can only assume was a tiny space, Pariah turned the rest of the Ascendancy against his brother; the pocket was sealed shut and maintained by the powerful energy of the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire._

_So long as the power of those artifacts was present, the binding would remain strong, and Maghnus would remain trapped forever._

"Which clearly he _hasn't_." Sam groused. "Why do you thi-"

            Everyone else turned to look at the goth as she stopped suddenly, slapping her face.

            "What is it, Sam?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

            "Okay, the crown and the ring were holding this Maghnus guy's prison shut, right?"

            "That is what the text says." Ghostwriter confirmed.

            "And it says that the binding would hold as long as the _power_ of those stupid things was around. Not the items themselves." Sam continued.

            "Is there anything else obvious you'd like to state, Miss Manson?" Lancer remarked dryly.

            "Oh man!" Danny yelped, realizing what his friend was driving at. "You mean because _he_ went back in time, that the seal got all weakened so Maghnus could break out?"

            "Because _he_ has all that power since he fought Pariah and destroyed both the crown and the ring!" Sam finished. "While he was in that other timeline thing, the power of the crown and ring _weren't here_!"

            "That doesn't fit though..." Danny frowned, clearly not wanting to play Devil's Advocate. "He was _back_ in this timeline _before_ Maghnus broke loose. He came back, so wouldn't that have restored the seal?"

            "Mister Fenton, what happens if you don't study and do your homework?" Lancer commented with a pointed glance.

            Danny cringed. "You... get a bad grade on the test?"

            The teacher nodded. "Now, if you tried to cram right before the test?"

            Sam intervened to spare her friend further needling at the hands of the analogy. "Then it's usually too little, too late. So you think the seal was too far gone by the time _he_ got back to this timeline for anything to save it?"

            "The story isn't finished, you realize." Ghostwriter interrupted the chatter again, gesturing to the final pages.

            _With the war over, Pariah was crowned king of our world. He could have used the gauntlet to repair his injuries, but chose not to. He said his wounds would serve as his reminder of what a burden great power is. A shame he would become too rigid in his ideals to adapt to change in the future; it would be his own resistance to new ideas that would eventually make his downfall necessary._

_Pariah built his fortress over the fold in reality that imprisoned his brother, and had the golden gauntlet dismantled and hidden away with its magical gems. Such power, he claimed, would be too close a temptation and too great a liability when he had the power to maintain order with just the crown and ring alone._

_Only a handful of my fellow Watchers survived, though I did not come out of hiding to join them. Having learned the hard way the lesson of meddling too closely with events, their stance began to change. They retreated from the world, and eventually came to assume I had been destroyed in the fighting. They would ultimately fall in the much later war to stop Pariah, unaware that I had found and borrowed the gold gauntlet to create the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep which they sealed him in. Eventually their successors, the so-called Observants would take over the Watchers' task of monitoring events, though their creed of absolute non-interference made them far more useless than their predecessors had ever been._

_I hid the gauntlet in the world of humans, for they knew less about the artifact and were less likely to disastrously utilize its powers. Over time, the tale of Maghnus and the complete Ascendancy was lost, leaving instead partial stories about the Ghost King, and the so-called 'Reality Gauntlet.'_

_Eventually..._

"Eventually _what_?" Sam groused.

            "That's all it says." Ghostwriter indicated the final two pages of the book.

            One page was an artistic rendering of Pariah being locked up, the one-eyed Observants framing the image. A stark building was faintly depicted in the upper half of the image, almost lost behind the Ghost King save for the glimmer of gold ink. In the middle of the faint building was a golden gauntlet lying on a cold pedestal with a few gems displayed next to it.

            On the facing page, there was just the single word "eventually," and nothing else.

            "It's like the book isn't finished." Danny frowned. "Maybe something happened to this last Watcher guy."

            "I don't think it's the _book_ that is unfinished." Ghostwriter countered. "Rather, the rest of the story that it tells... hasn't happened yet."


	16. Paths Entwined

**Paths Entwined**  
"A dead world  
A dark path  
Not even crossroads to choose from"  
_-"Planet Hell" - Nightwish_

            "Is this all?" Dan sneered, putting his fist through a veiled opponent's face. "Really, I could handle all of you with _both_ hands tied behind my back!"

            The fight had been downright relaxing, and the fire-headed ghost was really enjoying himself for the first time since.... probably since he got back to his timeline. Perhaps longer than that.

            His ploy to distract the goon squad appeared to be successful; Danny, Sam, and Lancer had gotten away some time ago. Maybe the act would even help lighten up his rather blisteringly negative reputation. At the very least it gave him a valid reason to go absolutely ballistic on a horde of opponents with reckless, ruthless abandon. The sense of rampaging wildly was something Dan had missed.

            "Lord Maghnus will not stand for this!" One of the apparent generals of the goon squad declared in a sniveling voice. "As soon as he-"

            "As soon as he _what_?" Dan hissed, grabbing the ghost by its bony throat and hurling it into a cluster of the remaining skeleton spooks. "You know, never mind. I think I _will_ handle you with both hands behind my back."

            True to word, the fire-headed ghost took a deep breath, tucking both hands behind him. The remaining goons saw their most likely opening to attack Dan and rushed him, not properly aware of just what he was really capable of. Which was precisely what he wanted.

            The teeth-grinding cacophony of the Ghostly Wail lashed out and sent the remaining goons flying every which way, helpless against the sonic onslaught. Dan would have grinned if he wasn't otherwise occupied with the attack; it had been a long time since he'd last used that particular skill.

            In fact, the last time had been...

            _No, this isn't the time to think about that._

            The last time he himself had used the devastating technique had been when past-Danny had arrived with Sam and Tucker in tow. When he was still blinded by his own insanity. He had used the attack since that ill-fated day, but the memory of that week-long divide that had nearly been the end of him wasn't something he liked to think too hard about. Jazz had cured him of his insanity, but that didn't make thinking about that mess any less headache-inducing.

            "Who **dares** try and fight **MY** armies?" An all too familiar voice boomed across the battlefield. "None shall stand against **my** power!"

            _And that's my cue to get out of Dodge._ Dan turned invisible with a silent snarl.

            Luckily, Maghnus must not have actually seen Dan; there was a disperse cloud of shattered skeletons and other assorted debris acting like an impromptu smokescreen. Dan felt his shoulder ache with the memory of the pounding he had last received from the gigantic ghost; much as it rankled, Dan knew he had to retreat now. Brute force wasn't going to help against Maghnus and that gauntlet, retreat was the only viable option.

            _I'll tear you apart soon, Maghnus._ Dan growled to himself as he fled the area, ignoring the tyrant's angry shouts. _And I will **enjoy** it. Maybe almost as much as I would enjoy ripping _ Valerie _limb from limb._

_\---_

"Gah, why aren't we doing anything?!" Valerie paced in front of the long-since empty containment chamber. "It's been too long, we have to do something! They're in trouble, I know it!"

            Tucker heaved a sigh. Much as the royal geek was loathe to concede the point, it had been quite some time since they'd lost contact with Danny and Sam. The question though remained: What _could_ they do? Take a blind chance and send someone else in after the two? What if they were just caught up talking to Clockwork about the situation? What if they had run afoul of Maghnus? Worse yet, what if Maghnus had destroyed the pair? And what would Dan's questionable behavior add to the equation?

            "Acting rashly isn't going to do anyone any good." Vlad reminded the room, earning the billionaire scathing looks from the ghost huntress and the ghosts present. "Considering our options and what little we _do_ know, running full-tilt into the Ghost Zone is just going to waste resources and time. Don't you have some sort of automated exploration drone we could use to see what the Zone is like _without_ risking anyone's neck?"

            A moment of silence was broken by the sound of both Valerie and Tucker facepalming at the obvious solution. It may not have been ideal, but it would at least give them _something_ to go on to decide further actions.

            _You guys better be okay._ Tucker mused to himself, casting a worried glance at Valerie. _And Dan... I hope you haven't gone back to your old habits. That's the_ last _thing anybody needs, considering Valerie still wants to tear you a new one._

            _Danny, you and Sam had better be okay._ Valerie cast a worried glance toward the swirling green portal as the drone was launched. _I lost you once... I don't want to lose you again. Not like this. Not because of **him**._

\---

            "Can we borrow this book?" Danny asked Ghostwriter, holding up the eccentric writer's copy of The War of the Ascendancy: The History of the War and the Sealed King. "I think we'll need to reference it when we explain about Maghnus to the others."

            "Loathe as I am to relinquish any of my books, even ones I don't recall obtaining..." Ghostwriter heaved a sigh indicative of one granting a great favor at a great personal cost. "Provided it is returned in one piece, I am willing to loan it for the duration of the current crisis."

            "I'm _sure_ Mister Fenton will do his best to ensure your book gets returned in good condition." Lancer noted pointedly. "Won't you, Danny?"

            "Could you maybe pick on everyone else, too?" Danny cringed. "I'm not the only one wanting to borrow it."

            It was understandable that Lancer had a particular urge to single Danny out; after all, it was his cheating on the C.A.T. that had led to the pudgy man's demise. Still, the dark-haired ghost didn't need to be reminded; that knowledge and his own guilt for his role in events weighed heavily on Danny. Despite Sam and Tucker's best efforts to cheer him up, that was one shadow that would never be lifted.

            "We've got to get back to the portal, and the sooner, the better." Sam changed the subject. "Tucker has got to be going nuts worrying about what happened since the phone got trashed."

            "What about that hotheaded friend of yours?" Lancer frowned. "Aren't you concerned about-"

            "He's _not_ my friend!" Sam denied loudly.

            "I'm _sure_ he can take care of himself." Danny interrupted before Sam could go off on the ignorant teacher. "C'mon, Sam, why don't we get back to the Patrol headquarters and let Tucker and Valerie know what we found out?"

            "You kids do that." Lancer pulled up a chair, apparently preferring to stick around with the Ghostwriter for awhile. "So, where's this new manuscript you wanted me to look over-?"

            Exchanging baffled looks, the two ghosts left the Ghostwriter's library; pausing briefly on the mansion's front steps to get their bearings. There was no sign of the earlier battle in the distance, though what that meant was a mystery.

            "The portal's this way." Danny tugged Sam's arm and gestured in a seemingly arbitrary direction. "Let's get moving!"

            "Right!"

            The Zone seemed quieter and more bleak than normal as the pair made their way back toward the Patrol portal. It was by no means a short trip; Ghostwriter's lair was deep in the Ghost Zone, and the silence was unnerving. How far had Maghnus managed to reach with his terrible destructive power?

            "How thoughtful of you to wait up."

            "GAH!"

            Sam yelped in surprise and jumped back, not expecting the pale, scowling visage that dropped in front of them. Danny barely reacted, it was almost as if he'd been expecting his allegedly worse half to appear. Dan floated down, arms crossed, a look of wry irritation etched onto his face.

            "So you found something about our tyrant du jour?" Dan remarked, eyeing the book Danny was holding with distaste.

            "Why do you even _care_?" Sam put herself between Dan and Danny defensively.

            "And what do my reasons even matter?" The tall ghost retorted. " _You_ don't like Maghnus, and _I_ don't like Maghnus. That's the only fact that matters."

            "Yeah, never mind it's _your_ fault he's loose!" Sam hissed.

            "My fault he what?" It was Dan's turn to recoil. "I think I'd _remember_ setting a guy like that loose. I was _there_ when he broke out of thin air!"

            "Look, we'll give you the short version while we get going." Danny rubbed his head in frustration.

            "You just want to let him come-" Sam blurted, but Danny cut her off.

            "He _did_ bail our butts out back there Sam. Twice." The dark-haired ghost pointed out. "And we both know neither of us are in any position to _force_ him to do anything."

            Dan quirked an eyebrow, apparently mildly surprised to be given some credit for his actions; by Danny of all people. "At least somebody is giving credit where it's due. So, how precisely is it _my_ fault?"

            "The seal on Maghnus' prison was held together by the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage." Sam remarked with no good grace. "And apparently your little trip back in time weakened it."

            "And I guess you got back from the past too late, and Maghnus was able to break loose." Danny filled in the rest.

            Surprisingly, Dan didn't react as they expected. They both expected some snarling, maybe a shout of denial, or even violence. Instead, the fire-headed ghost just stopped briefly with a look of disbelief on his face, and then he slapped himself.

            "Another shining example of my past smacking me in the face." Dan groused to himself.

            " **THERE** you are, insolent renegade!"

            "Oh crud." Dan muttered. "I thought I lost him."

            Even from a distance, Maghnus managed to tower ominously, sword held out with a wicked coil of red ectoplasmic energy flitting across the broad blade's surface. It was matched by an equally wicked glimmer of silver at the giant's left side, where the destructive magical gauntlet covered his forearm. Somehow despite Dan's best efforts, the tyrant had managed to track the fire-headed ghost down.

            "Okay, we need to get out of here." Sam squeaked. The pictures in the book failed to capture the aura of sheer power the huge ghost gave off in person.

            "Surely you know where the **rest** of the Ascendancy is!" Maghnus bellowed, lunging at Dan. "And you **WILL** reveal it to me!"

            "Run for it!" Danny flung himself at Sam, who then collided with Dan.

            It was a good thing, actually; caught by surprise, the fire-headed ghost went down, all three ghosts narrowly avoiding the red beam the giant flung at them. Dan was the first back on his feet, a green energy barrier hastily thrown between them and the great blade bearing down.

            "Are you crazy?" Sam yelled as she and Danny turned to resume bolting for the portal that was not yet in sight.

            "Unless you _want_ to be the thin-sliced deli special-" Dan hissed in retort, his effort and focus mostly on the barrier that was already starting to crack under the strain of Maghnus' attack. "-I'm the only thing standing between us and _him_!"

            "Let's go, Sam!" Danny urged his friend on, perfectly happy to let Dan continue standing between the tyrant and themselves.

            They hadn't flown more than a few dozen feet when there was the thundercrack of an explosion and Dan was flung backwards past them, shaking his head and cursing soundly.

            "You could not hold a candle to **my** power the **first** time you tried to stand against me! What makes you believe that you would do any better during our **second** duel?" Maghnus boomed, each step toward the group resounding with a menacing shockwave. "It was merely by virtue of some good fortune that you **survived** our first encounter, so that you can now tell me what I **will** find out!"

            "And I don't know a thing about this Ascendancy you keep blathering on about, you geriatric idiot!" Dan got back to his feet, ignoring the green gash across the front of his jumpsuit.

            Danny and Sam exchanged looks. _They_ knew the tyrant was after the other gauntlet for his entire egomaniacal, if not downright insane plan to destroy and then recreate the world. For whatever reason, likely Dan's boasts of having beaten Pariah; Maghnus thought that the fire-headed ghost knew where the other gauntlet was. Meanwhile, Dan hadn't a clue _what_ his opponent was even talking about; and responding in the only way he knew how, with violence and anger.

            "You think I am fool enough to believe such a bold faced falsehood?" Maghnus snarled. "My brother had it, and if you have felled him as you indeed boast to have done, then you **must** have it! Or else you hold the knowledge of its true location! Or perhaps one of your comrades knows of which I speak..."

            The giant's glare turned on Danny and Sam, the two ghosts having been trying to slip away unnoticed.

            "We're _not_ his comrades!" Sam protested hotly.

            "Then you will swear fealty to the one true lord and ruler of this realm!" The tyrant demanded, leveling his massive sword to point at the pair.

            "Yeah...." Danny eyed the weapon. "Could we get back to you on that?"

            "I demand your answer **now**!" Maghnus threatened, clearly not the sort to be stalled by witty banter. Or to take "no" for an answer. "Those which attempt to interfere with my destined goal shall **not** live to tell of it in the new world I will build!"

            The statement was accompanied by a rather impassioned gesture with the tyrant's silver-clad left arm, matched by a seemingly crazed flash of red light from his otherwise black eyes. Before Danny could respond to the open threat however, a green energy blast from behind caught Maghnus square in the face. The attack wasn't enough to do any real damage, but the flash of light did distract him.

            "You didn't ask a _question_ , so what answer can you _expect_?" Dan snarled, a thin wisp of green smoke curling into the air from his open palm; his glare at the giant interrupted as he glowered at Sam and Danny. "What are you idiots waiting for? An engraved _invitation_?"

            One hand was raised and pointing not at Maghnus, but to Dan's side; a whirling green portal hung suspended just beyond his fingertips.

            "You think I'm going to trust _you_ -" Sam started to protest.

            "Sam, just come _on!_ " Danny interrupted, slapping himself. "He can make portals, remember?"

            "Yeah, and where does it even go?" Sam momentarily forgot the very imminent threat of the temporarily blinded tyrant in favor of her distrust for her friend's worse half.

            "Why don't I _show_ you?" Dan swooped down on the pair, catching both of the weaker ghosts by the wrists.

            "Awk-!"

            "Hey-!"

            Dan put his momentum to good use, flinging Danny and Sam through his portal. They both disappeared to the safety of the other side, and he was about to dive through after them; though running away wasn't doing anything to help his short temper.

            " **YOU WILL PAY MOST DIRELY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!** "

            Dan spun around, just in time to witness a wall of red energy coming right at him.

\---

            "Whoa!"

            The tension in the Patrol lab was shattered by a flash of green and two forms crashing ungracefully into Tucker and Valerie. The group fell to the floor in a tangled heap of arms, legs, and ghostly tails before anybody properly sorted out what just happened.

            "Danny!"

            "Tucker!"

            "Sam!"

            "Valerie!"

            The moment of relieved celebration was short lived as the unframed portal hanging suspended midair belched a gout of red ectoplasmic energy that sent everyone in the lab scrambling for cover. Thankfully the portal disappeared before more than a fraction of the full force of the blast could pass through, but just that fragment was enough to burn a large circular hole in the reinforced laboratory wall.

            Or rather, _would_ have burned a hole, if not for the black and white clad figure smashed flat into it hard enough to dent the steel, still holding up the battered remnants of a green energy shield against the ruby beam. The barrier shattered and dissipated with the blast, revealing Dan; the fire-headed ghost clearly winded from the effort as he staggered out of the Dan-shaped dent in the wall.

            "Entirely too close-" He started to grouse, interrupted by the sounds of weapons being primed and trained on him.

            "So you came back again?" Valerie hissed over the barrel of her rifle, the weapon trained on the ghost's chest.

            "Man, not this again!" Tucker facepalmed.

            Dan and Valerie glared at each other over the huntress' weapon for several long seconds; a silent contest of will. Vlad loudly clearing his throat finally broke the staring match, drawing all eyes to the old man.

            "So, Daniel, Samantha." He stated, pointedly ignoring Dan and Valerie for the moment. "Given your rather abrupt entrance, am I to assume things went rather badly?"

            "The book-!" Sam fumbled around the floor for the old book Danny had dropped when they'd hit the others.

            "Book?" Tucker raised an eyebrow, still keeping tabs on the two bundles of hate still glaring at one another. "What about Clockwork?"

            "That's..." Danny frowned. "We didn't find him. His tower was empty, all we found was his staff."

            "Buuuut, we accidentally ran into - get this - Mr. Lancer, and he knew this Ghostwriter guy." Sam picked up the story.

            "Oh sure, skip over the horde that would have wiped the floor with the both of you." Dan snapped.

            "Horde? What?!" Valerie was surprised enough to forget momentarily to glare at Dan.

            "Maghnus' goon squad." Dan sneered, crossing his arms as he inserted his contribution to the tale. "Idiotic sending _these_ two alone into dangerous territory. I got out of _here_ just in time."

            "Yeah..." Danny agreed quietly. "He did... kinda bail us out."

            "Anyway, Ghostwriter had this old book." Sam pushed ahead, glancing warily between Dan's cold irritation and Valerie's simmering anger. "And it's got the entire story about some really ancient war in the Ghost Zone, Maghnus, and this Ascendancy thing he's after."

\---

            "How could he flee the field of battle a **second** time?!" Maghnus snarled, pacing angrily before a squadron of his minions. "And **where** is it he has fled?"

            "We do not know, Lord Maghnus." One of the braver goons answered.

            "Of **course** you would not know such things!" The tyrant boomed, silencing the ghosts before him. "Somehow.... he must have some way to that other world, that which I intend to rule with the rest of my rightful empire!"

            That had to be it! The foolhardy fire-haired ghost that dared oppose him, and continued to hide the remaining gauntlet must have somehow gained access to that sunlit land. Yet something didn't fit; if that ghost had in fact declared triumph over the broken remains of his traitorous brother Pariah, why did that ghost flee rather than fight? Surely the smug fool had the rest of the Ascendancy, the very same power that had enabled Pariah to almost battle evenly against him!

            Perhaps then, this new opponent did not in fact have the last gauntlet? That did not seem right either; the siege of the time master's lair had not revealed the missing device. With the subtle machinations of Clockwork, that seemed the most likely location for the lost gauntlet. If it could not be found in the wreckage of the Master of Time's lair, then it simply _had_ to be in that fire-headed ghost's possession.

            Or at least the _knowledge_ of the device's location. Somehow, Maghnus, Lord of the Dark and destined savior of this world and that of the humans... would find it.

\---

            "So then the short version is we need to find this other gauntlet in order to stand a chance against Maghnus?" Dan growled, leaning against the lab wall.

            "There's no 'we' about it, ghost!" Valerie hissed at him from the opposite wall. Her gun hadn't lowered from its position a single time during Danny and Sam's explanation of the War of the Ascendancy.

            "Regardless, it's obvious that this Maghnus is a threat to all." Vlad once again interrupted, talking over the biting remarks. "And that the Reality Gauntlet is likely our only chance to level the playing field."

            "But the book only says that this Watcher guy hid it in the human world..." Danny frowned at the book. "We don't have any idea _where_ in the world to even start looking."

            "Like a needle in a haystack." Tucker agreed.

            "I can think of another problem we can deal with in the meantime." Valerie snapped waspishly.

            "Valerie-" Tucker resisted the urge to smack himself in frustration at the huntress.

            Apparently Dan had taken all the needling he was willing to take, for the fire-headed ghost pushed away from the wall, floating just off the ground rather than walking. Wordlessly he drifted across the lab, the others getting out of his way. Valerie met his dark glare with her own fierce expression, rifle angled up at his face as he approached.

            "For once, I think I agree with you, Valerie." Dan's voice took on that sinister purr that he'd mostly stopped using since his return from the alternate past. "There _is_ another problem that we can address."

            Everyone else exchanged worried looks. Had the tall ghost gotten sick of being patient, of restraining his destructive habits? Was a full-out battle about to erupt in the underground lab, in the middle of the city? Most of those present certainly couldn't blame Valerie for wanting to get some overdue payback against Dan; but with the threat of Maghnus looming, it seemed that there was a much more immediate threat to deal with than a mass-murderer who had recently ceased his sociopathic behavior.

            "Uh, guys-" Danny squeaked.

            With a sinuous speed born of long experience, one gloved hand lashed out and grabbed Valerie's rifle, wrenching the gun from her grasp. Rather than crush the weapon or otherwise destroy it, Dan tossed it carelessly toward the others; Tucker awkwardly caught it.

            "Why you-!" Valerie was already reaching for her autocannon, but was stopped by Dan crouching and knocking the huntress' legs out from under her with an expertly timed sweeper kick.

            "It _is_ time we settled things." Dan got back up easily, grabbing Valerie and pinning her arms as he plucked her from the floor, turning them both intangible.

            "Valerie!" Sam started to run over to intervene, but stopped dead at a stern look from Dan.

            "Put me down!" Valerie tried to get loose, but her intangible hands couldn't get a grip on her captor.

            "In fact, I would say we're long overdue to settle things." Dan sneered at Valerie as he took off through the ceiling. "So why don't we take care of that _right_ now?"


	17. Who's to Blame

**Who's to Blame**  
"I know I better stop trying  
You know that there's no denying  
I won't show mercy on you now  
_I know I should stop believing_  
_I know that there's no retrieving_  
_It's over now_  
What have you done?"  
_-"What Have You Done" - Within Temptation_ **  
**

Silence reigned over the lab for a long moment after Dan and Valerie's departure.

            "You _know_ we can't leave those two alone, right?" Tucker finally broke the uneasy quiet.

            "No kidding." Danny agreed, still staring at the spot where his allegedly worse half disappeared with the huntress in tow.

            "And we still need to find that gauntlet." Vlad reminded them.

            Paulina stepped forward from where she had been silent and out of the way during the retelling of the War of the Ascendancy, the Latina's expression stern. "Okay, so we need to figure out what to do. Tucker, I want you to go after Valerie and Dan. I don't know what _he's_ got in mind, but I _know_ Valerie won't be reasonable if she's alone with him. You're probably the most powerful out of us here and best able to break it up if they start fighting."

            "Ur... right." If Tucker was thrown by the former cheerleader's swift command of the situation, he didn't show it for more than a moment.

            "Dora, you help Tucker search for those two. We don't know where _he_ took Valerie, but I doubt they went too far." Paulina continued. "Danny, Sam, you guys are with me; we'll round up the rest of the Patrol and figure out how to start searching for that gauntlet. Mr. Masters, you implied you knew something about the gauntlet earlier, so you're joining the meeting upstairs."

            The old man offered up a wry smirk at being bossed around by a girl less than half his age. "As you wish, Miss Mayor."

            "Let's go, people!"

\---

            "Put me **_down_**!" Valerie snarled, trying to pry herself loose from the iron grip the fire-headed ghost had on her. "Put me down so I can destroy you!"

            " _Hardly_ a compelling reason to." Dan remarked icily, the city flying past below them at a few hundred miles per hour.

            It took every ounce of restraint he had not to just kill the woman right then. It would be so easy; all he had to do was tighten his grip and crush her fragile human body. Perhaps channel a small blast of ectoplasmic energy into her at point blank range. It could be as simple as letting her go; altitude combined with the momentum of his flight would dash her body against the ground with enough ballistic force to leave nothing recognizable.

            Instead, he spied the location he was looking for and arced toward it, cape flapping loudly with the wind of his passage. Broken concrete and the toppled, rotted hulks of old trees littered the area; fountains caked in years of dust and dirt, their cisterns cracked and empty save for the occasional stagnant puddle. The wrought iron gates stood skewed, rusted and twisted where the metal still remained upright; an old, weather-worn sign that marked the ruin as an old park still hanging half-broken from a signpost.

            "Perfect." Dan touched down in the middle of the wreckage and pitched Valerie a few feet away like some piece of unwanted baggage.

            "Ow-!" It wasn't a hard throw, just enough that Valerie was certain she would be sporting some bruises from tumbling over the shattered asphalt and debris. In a flash she was back on her feet and leveling her autocannon at the ghost.

            "I'm sure you remember this place, Valerie." Dan said quietly, voice ragged as he surveyed the area.

            "What are you getting at, ghost?" Valerie hissed, sparing only the barest glances at the surrounding terrain; most of her attention was on him alone, her opponent, her nemesis, the figure that had plagued her nightmares for a full decade. "This used to be the park."

            "Yes, the park." Dan strolled a few steps away from the huntress, studying one of the shattered fountains. "The park, near the school. Where it all began, thanks to _you_."

            "What?!" Valerie recoiled, her voice cracking in surprise on the query. "What are you _talking_ about?!"

            "You know perfectly well **what** I'm talking about." Dan finally turned, glaring at the huntress. "Eleven years ago!"

            "Ele- the Nasty Burger explosion?" The unexpected turn toward conversation made Valerie lower her weapon and relax her combat stance however slightly.

            "Close." Dan crossed his arms. "Try the day _after_. Something very important happened the day after that."

            Valerie's frown deepened. "The park... this is where Danny wanted to meet me after sc-"

            "Where **_I_** wanted to meet you after school." Dan snapped, cutting the huntress off with the harsh reminder.

            The ghost gestured angrily at the decrepit scenery; the broken buildings around the park, the grey ruins of what had been a vast metropolis brought to its knees over the years of chaos.

            "This is _your_ fault, Valerie." Dan pointed accusingly at her. "Ten years of madness, all thanks to _you._ "

            "What?!" Valerie's expression hardened into a harsh glare as though she could bore holes in the ghost with her eyes alone. "You've got a lot of nerve trying to blame _your_ slaughter on me!"

            "And you have a lot of nerve _denying_ it!" Dan snarled back.

            "You're the one that came back from Wisconsin after you-" Valerie choked momentarily at the memory. "After _you **killed** him_!"

            "Yes, I _killed_ him. I killed my better half." The fire-headed ghost's voice dropped dangerously low, he seemed very nearly shaking with pent up anger. "Why is that? Haven't you ever wondered what would drive someone to.... _suicide_?"

            "Don't try and play the pity game with me, ghost! It was _murder_!" Valerie tightened her grip on her weapon, confused.

            She hated the ghost, this was fact. His actions had her off balance; they were supposed to be trying to kill one another, not _talking_ about who did what a decade ago! Not to mention he was trying to pin _his_ mass-murder on _her_ , and that was just patently absurd! The huntress knew she should have just opened fire and started things the way they should be, but the ghost's words rankled, and her own pride refused to accept such statements without argument.

            "It's the same thing, Valerie!" Dan whirled and stalked toward her, stopping barely two feet from the end of her cannon. "In case you need reminding, and you clearly _do_ , I **_was_** Danny Fenton! I was him, and I killed him. And do you know _why_?"

            "Because you're a psychopath bent on killing, that's why!" She bristled, her own anger rising to match his. "Danny, Dash... my _father_! **You** killed them all!"

            "Because _you_ betrayed me!" Dan growled, fists clenched at his sides as he stood tall, looming over the shorter human with his fangs bared. "I trusted you, Valerie! Eleven years ago, when I had nothing left and needed just one person, just **one** to know the truth, to understand! I _trusted_ you, and you threw it in my face!"

            Valerie backed away at Dan's outburst, surprised. Hadn't she blamed herself, in some nightmare-spawned corner of her subconscious for what had happened? No, she had made a mistake, to be sure; but the betrayal was _his_!

            "You _promised_ -" Dan sneered the word, those two syllables oozing bitter sarcasm, a decade's worth of pure loathing before he shifted his voice into a falsetto; a mocking, painful sound. "'Don't freak out on me, please!' I said. 'I swear I won't, we're friends, right?' You said."

            Dan hadn't realized just how much that day had truly rankled. All the things he must have thought about that day, all the things he had wanted to express back then but lacked the words to put to that all-consuming anger and hurt. Valerie's ongoing sense of righteousness and being the morally superior of the two had finally spilled over beyond what his fragile patience could put up with; the floodgates were open. It was time they settled things; or at least laid all the old scars open once again.

            "And as soon as I showed you the truth? The first thing you do?" Dan continued, the tirade moving too swiftly now to stop or to censor. "'It's _your_ fault! You lied to me, ghost!' and then BLAM, right on the attack! Like you didn't know you were trying to _kill_ someone you had just called a _friend_!"

            "I was surprised!" Valerie found her voice and forced a word in against the ghost's verbal barrage. "What did you expect me to think? 'Oh wow, Danny, you're a _ghost_!'? Get real, who would have believed something like that?!"

            "Funny, _Sam_ and _Tucker_ believed it." Dan retorted. " _Jazz_ believed it!"

            Not that Valerie would know about that; the revelation that Jazz had known his secret, that she'd been _proud_ of him back then was a fact known only to him in this timeline. It was little more than a mental trinket he had carried with him when he returned from that alternate past.

            "This isn't about them!" She countered. " _You_ chose to run off to Vlad and agreed to that asinine operation that led to this! You tried to take the easy way out!"

            "To try and kill the pain!" Dan shouted over her protest. "Where else could I go?  The last person in Amity Park I thought I could trust was trying to kill me, was I supposed to just _stay_ in that empty house!? I was just _fourteen_ , don't you dare tell me you would have reacted any better than I did! At least Vlad _gets it_ , being a ghost! Something _you_ never got, and never will!"

            "If you hadn't run off, I was _worried_ about y- about Danny!" The huntress shrieked, her cannon quaking in a white-knuckle grip. "Or did _you_ forget when you got back? I said I was sorry! I _tried_ to make up for it! And you threw _that_ in my face, ghost! I humiliated myself begging forgiveness!"

            "That you didn't deserve, and still don't." Dan snapped, crossing his arms.

            "Oh, and because of my actions, it was _right_ to cripple my father?!" Valerie lowered her cannon only slightly and stalked a step forward, glaring up at her opponent as she shouted at him. "Because of my actions, Dash had to die? Paulina had to put her life on the line?"

            "Dash-" Dan's voice dropped briefly to a smug purr. "-deserved it. The rest just got in my way."

            "For a bunch of juvenile _pranks_?" Pure disbelief colored the huntress' voice. "The price of schoolyard _bullying_ is **death**?"

            "Funny, I found him with an ecto gun that day. Hardly a 'juvenile prank', is it?" Dan's gaze slid over her, the way someone looks out the corner of their eye to avoid looking directly at something offensive. "In fact, a _lot_ of my classmates were fighting. I'm sure _you_ had absolutely **nothing** to do with that. Surely you wouldn't lead our _dear_ classmates into mortal danger!"

            "Cut the sarcasm, ghost." Valerie snarled.

            "So once again, it's _your_ fault they were hurt, that they were killed." Dan sneered.

            "A fight that nobody would have _had_ to fight if _you_ hadn't started to slaughter innocent people for no reason!" The huntress shot back. "I trusted _you_ , I was **glad** to see _you_ , and even when you started to attack me I didn't fight back! You almost killed my father that day because I was trying to apologize!"

            "Too little, too late!" The ghost hissed in response. "Two _weeks_ too late, to be precise!"

            "Oh, of _course_." Valerie spat. "The operation... because you had to take the coward's way out instead of dealing with grief like the _rest_ of us have to!"

            "What do _you_ know about grief?" Dan snapped, the huntress' statement clearly striking a nerve.

            "Oh gee, let me think for a minute." It was Valerie's turn to ooze sarcasm. "Two sort-of friends die horribly in an explosion.... my **best friend** disappears, and I later learn that he'd been brutally torn to pieces and _murdered_... dozens of my classmates slaughtered, my own father crippled... and then later _killed_. Not to mention my entire home town destroyed, thousands of people massacred that I was trying to protect... But I suppose you wouldn't _know_ what it's like to feel like you failed everyone that was counting on you!"

            It was Dan's turn to recoil under the verbal barrage. Apparently a decade of trying to kill one another wasn't enough to actually vent out all the enmity that existed between them. In all actuality, that long span spent on violence had likely been counter-productive; cementing the mutual animosity into place without ever having a chance to actually _say_ what they were so upset about. Now that the ghost was rational enough to try and put his reasons for the past into words, the entire decade of anger and hate had simply reached critical mass between the pair and was going to detonate.

            Like Nasty Sauce storage tanks left to overheat.

            "I don't know that?" Dan snarled, lifting inches off the ground angrily, his fists clenched tight enough that his nails would have been digging into his palms were he human. "How do you think I felt after the explosion, huh? 'Oh whoops, my friends and family died horribly when I _could_ have saved them, oh well, time to destroy the city!' Is that what you think it was like?!"

            "Well if you could have-" Valerie's tone was positively venomous. "-then why _didn't_ you? I don't think you _wanted_ to!"

            Were the conversation not already so heated, Valerie probably wouldn't have made such a barbed statement. In the heat of her anger however, at long last able to be given voice and words and thrown in _his_ face, she wanted to leave as much of a mark as possible. What better subject to attack than the handful of deaths that had been the ominous prelude to a decade of slaughter?

            "Why you-!" From the look on Dan's face, it seemed likely the ghost was holding back from attacking the huntress by only the slimmest of margins.

            Valerie could see the familiar glint of rage in the ghost's bright red eyes, and in her own re-ignited fury chose to press the verbal attack further even as she gripped the wrist supporting her cannon with her free hand to steady the weapon's aim. A soft beep from her wristband was inaudible over the hum of the active weapon.

            "You could have just turned everybody intangible! Or used your creepy ghost powers to get them out before it blew up!" She hissed, daring to push her luck further than she would have ever considered just a year ago. "Or better yet, you could have just _not_ used your powers to cheat on the C.A.T. eleven years ago and taken the stupid test like every other student had to!"

            "Shut up!" Dan struck out, his backhand strike catching Valerie upside the head and sending her tumbling a good few dozen feet.

            "No way ghost! The more things change, the more they stay the same!" Valerie sprung quickly to her feet with a snarl, a spray of covering fire tearing into the asphalt, shattering the nearest fountains. "I should have finished you off when I had the chance!"

            "You think I'll just stand here and _let_ you?!" Dan shot into the air, avoiding a flurry of additional cannon blasts that tore through the cloud of dust. "You think after ten years that you have the _power_ to?"

            Valerie's only reply was another flurry of cannon fire; the huntress herself tearing out of the cloud of dust atop her black and red jet sled, the device's four engines whining loudly as the board knifed through the air. Dan threw himself out of the way, a mid-air sideways tumble that put him briefly upside-down as he did what anyone being attacked would do.

            Return fire.

            Considering his emotional state, the fact that the counter-attack wasn't more explosive was perhaps a better testament to his sanity than anything he could have said on the subject. Regardless, the green energy burst _was_ still the size of a small car, and Valerie barely had enough time to pull her sled up and out of the way. The blast hit the old roadway into the park, tearing a gouge in the ground a few feet wide and several feet long before it detonated against a tree, turning it and a chunk of the old fence to charred slag.

            There was simply no return to even heated conversation after the mutual volley of physical violence. Shots had been fired, and neither was willing to back off from their rhetoric to stop the fight; nor would either wound their own pride by being the first to try and get the other to back off peacefully. There was simply too much mutual hatred for Dan or Valerie to treat the other in a remotely rational manner.

            The ghost gave a startled grunt when a pink beam blast managed to score a hit on his bad shoulder, tumbling Dan to a halt against the park sign and breaking the already battered post completely.

            "Maybe I should thank that Maghnus guy for smacking you around for me!" Valerie sneered from overhead.

            Dan growled as he climbed back to his feet and lobbed his own attack; a swarm of small green blasts moving unpredictably as they arced through the air. "Yes, and then I could laugh at you when you end up in oblivion, too!"

            The huntress used some sort of shield projecting weapon mounted in her suit to deflect most of the shots, but gave a startled cry when one arced around the barrier and struck her jet sled. With a miniature explosion the board flipped over and threw Valerie through the air with a yell, one finger already on the recall button in her wristband.

            Dan launched himself into the air again and caught Valerie by the front of her suit. "Or I could save him the trouble and finish things n-OW!"

            His growled taunt was cut off by a cannon blast to the side of his head. He wouldn't admit it, but the guns that Valerie's little Patrol were packing these days _were_ a great deal more powerful than anything fielded before the ghost shield had fallen over a year ago. Startled by the unexpected pain, his grip on Valerie slipped just enough; and she wasn't going to let the opportunity pass.

            "You first, ghost!" One leg shot out, Valerie's kick catching Dan square in the thin wound still visible across his chest. She used the force of the kick to spring away from him midair, her sled already almost there to retrieve her.

            " **KNOCK IT OFF!** "

            Except a large, dark form arrowed out of the sky with the rumble of displaced air, thunderous roar enough to rattle the ground as it snatched Valerie out of the sky with one massive forepaw. Dan scrambled to get out of the way, but was caught by surprise as well and unable to move quickly enough. With a ground-shaking WHUMP, the serpentine form slammed Dan to earth, still holding Valerie immobile in its large talons.

            The impact raised more dust, briefly obscuring the immediate area under its gritty pall.

            "I can't believe you two! We're in the middle of a crisis, and you guys are busy in the middle of nowhere trashing the place?" The rough voice was familiar, albeit deeper and rougher than either the ghost or the huntress was accustomed to. "If you guys want to keep up the ten year vendetta, do it on your _own_ time!"

            "Tucker?" Valerie choked out, coughing on the dust in the air.

            "Feh." Dan turned intangible just long enough to sink into the ground and out from under the dragon's claws, dusting one sleeve off as he reappeared. "So much for that."

            "So much for _what_?" Tucker peered down at Dan as he carefully set Valerie down, the huntress uninjured despite a probable blow to her pride.

            "Let's just say we were busy airing some dirty laundry." Dan spat, glaring at Valerie.

            Tucker's timely arrival had done a smashing job of throwing the combatants off their groove, so Valerie didn't lunge at Dan as soon as she was set down; nor did Dan seem in any great hurry to resume the attack while the multi-hued dragon loomed over them both. With the physical violence so jarringly disrupted, it gave both time to start to digest the words that had been exchanged prior to the escalation.

            "More like you're trying to blame _me_ for _your_ mass murder!" Valerie snarled.

            "Whatever." Dan turned away from them both, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's been eleven years Valerie. Eleven years of coping. People change, or at least try to."

            He turned his head slightly to glare at Valerie over his shoulder as he lifted a few feet into the air, preparing to leave the area.

            "But then again, maybe it's like you said." The ghost sneered. "The more things change, the more they stay the same...and _you_ haven't changed a bit. Not surprising, I suppose it was my mistake to expect that perhaps you were ever _capable_ of changing."

            With that, he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, those two having their screaming match is still one of my favorite sequences in the entire saga.


	18. The Needle in the Haystack

**The Needle in the Haystack**  
"She can't forgive, nor forget the past  
These ineffable feelings and hurt that last evermore"  
_-"Veniality" - Epica_ **  
**

            "If the so-called Watcher who wrote this book is to be believed, and I see little reason to doubt him, the Reality Gauntlet is the _only_ weapon that can effectively even the odds against Maghnus." Vlad paced the lab floor, the clacking of his cane creating a jagged rhythm that matched the general uneasy feelings of those present. "The power of the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire, the so-called _Lesser_ Ascendancy is clearly insufficient; otherwise Dan would have fared far better than he did in single combat with Maghnus."

            "And if _he_ got his butt kicked..." Danny stared at the floor. "Then that means the rest of us would do even worse against the guy."

            "Forget about him, how the heck are we supposed to even _find_ this other gauntlet thing?" Paulina cast a glance at the others, just as lost as she was as to where to start such a search.

            "That would be the million-dollar question, wouldn't it?" Vlad mused. "With sufficient time, I'm certain I could devise some sort of device that could detect the relevant energy emissions."

            "That's great, except two problems." Sam noted dryly. "One; we don't know if we've even got that much time. Two; there's that tiny problem of trying to find something that could be hidden anywhere in an area _several thousand miles_ across."

            "There's one other issue that we should consider as well." Vlad cut in. "Obviously, the most effective way to fight Maghnus with his magic gauntlet would be to utilize the _entire_ remaining parts of the Ascendancy against him. The ring, the crown, and the gauntlet. However,  I don't believe I need to elaborate on what the problem is with that particular strategy."

            A long silence fell over the room; there was little need for the billionaire to explain the problem. Dan had the power of the Lesser Ascendancy, the Ring and the Crown; and that power could not be taken from the fire-headed ghost. In order to utilize them and the Reality Gauntlet against Maghnus meant doing something none of them wanted to do: entrust the gauntlet to Dan.

            "Um.... I can't help with that problem, but..." One of the older Patrol members in the room spoke up uneasily. "I might be able to help narrow down the search perimeter for the gauntlet."

            That immediately grabbed everyone's attention. He was one of the oldest members of the Patrol, well into his forties, Paulina recognized him as a recruit that had joined up shortly after Dan's second rampage in Amity Park years ago. He was tall and well-built, looking young for his age, though a haunted look lingered in eyes often shielded by sunglasses.

            "This was classified information at the time..." He began uneasily. "My... former employers... well, we had the Reality Gauntlet."

            "You **_what_**?!" Paulina yelped.

            "Wait, your _former_ empl-" Vlad paused and peered closely at the man, recognition dawning across his face. "Wait... you! _Fudge brownies_! You were one of the Guys in White!"

            The man cringed, but nodded somberly at the billionaire's accusation. "We were dispatched to Amity Park eight years ago after reports of an unchecked ghost rampage in the area. I was lucky enough to survive, but the rest of the unit was wiped out. The Patrol commander's intervention is the only reason I got out intact."

            "That was Dan's second rampage..." Paulina frowned at the memory. "I remember after the first day, the military tried to help, too."

            "Yes, yes, we all know the history." Vlad interrupted, suddenly impatient. "But you said you might know something that can hasten the search for the gauntlet?"

            The ex-agent coughed and nodded. "We had acquired the Reality Gauntlet and all the gems relating to it. As per command mandate Delta Pi Alpha, paragraph 42, subclause 13-37, the Guys in White were authorized to utilize any and all means available to combat the ghost kid." A trace of wry humor crept into the man's voice at the easy repetition of the old procedural jargon. "We had the device stored at the Amity Park prison; there was an inmate locked up there who had experience with ghostly artifacts. We had planned to question him about the gauntlet so we could use it against Phantom."

            "Ghostly artifacts?" Sam exchanged a confused look with Danny.

            "That inmate wasn't a former ringmaster by any chance, was he?" Danny remarked with a cringe.

            "Ringmaster of the Circus Gothica, and ringleader of a ghost-powered crime ring." The agent confirmed.

            "So that's what happened to Freakshow." Sam snorted. "So you guys had the gauntlet there, then what happened?"

            "Take a wild guess." The ex-GiW sighed. "The prison was destroyed during the first rampage event a decade ago. We never had the opportunity to send salvage units to relocate the gauntlet. Unless scavengers went through the prison ruins, it should likely still be in that area."

            "Okay, hold on a second..." Paulina fussed with one of the computer consoles in the lab area, quickly calling up an overhead map of the city. "That's way out in the Outlands... I don't think refugees would have had a chance to go through that area. We were all concentrated in the areas near the Underground."

            The map showed the current city boundary, with overlays indicating the original city's sprawl. An additional overlay indicated where the Underground was; all within the area covered by the long-defunct anti-ghost shield. A red marker blinked on, marking the prison's location.

            "I would be surprised if that area's seen a human visitor in a good ten years, at least." Vlad observed.

            "We'll need heavy equipment flown in to clear the debris." Paulina frowned.

            "Not necessarily." Dora spoke up, fingering her amulet. "I can handle any of the heavy lifting. And as soon as Tucker returns, he can help as well. Just because I'm a queen does not mean I can't pull my own weight... especially when Maghnus is currently sitting on _my_ throne!"

            "Speaking of Tuck..." Danny broke the brief silence quietly. "Do you think he found them yet?"

            There was no need to specify who "they" were; no one was sure what was going to happen if Dan and Valerie were left to their own devices. If anything was certain, it was that such an encounter would _not_ be pleasant, and more likely to turn into a battle than not.

            "Well I don't hear any explosions." Vlad remarked mockingly.

            "That doesn't mean a whole lot." Sam rolled her eyes at the billionaire.

\---

            "Why'd you interrupt?!" Valerie whirled on Tucker, and for a moment the techno geek almost thought he was going to be addressing the business end of her cannon. "You heard what he was saying!"

            "Does it really _matter_ who did what then?" Tucker could have changed back to human form, but decided not to; the extra height and imposing appearance gave him a slight psychological edge that he thought helped chill the huntress' temper.

            Valerie was visibly quaking with anger, though calling her angry was probably an understatement. The woman was positively furious, and Tucker suspected it had less to do with his arrival and more to do with whatever Dan had said before he'd arrived to break it up. Trying to pin the slaughter of the past decade on Valerie, apparently.

            _I can't blame her for being mad._ Tucker thought to himself. _What did he **say** to her though? I don't think I've ever seen her so livid!_

"How can you stand him?" Valerie hissed. "After everything he did, how can you stick up for him?"

            "Look, the others are trying to organize a strategy to find that gauntlet." Tucker forcibly changed the topic. "We should get back."

            "After what he did to your _best friend_ , you defend that... that **monster**!" Valerie went on as though the royal geek hadn't spoken. "How? _Why_? He killed Danny!"

            "Valerie!" Tucker's roar at least shut the huntress up. "We're going back now. Or at least I am."

            He crouched for a moment, vast wings spread to make that first vital downsweep to throw himself into the air. Valerie couldn't get into too much trouble by herself, and Dan had disappeared for parts unknown. Tucker didn't want to subject himself to Valerie's irrational behavior if it could be avoided; he had bigger issues to worry about.

            The whine of Valerie's jet sled blasting into the sky accompanied the thunderclap of Tucker's wings, the huntress' expression frigid as they both headed toward Patrol headquarters in the city center. She didn't say anything further to Tucker, she refused to even glance in his direction; as if he wasn't even there.

            _Works for me._ Tucker slowed down, letting Valerie get well ahead of him before he shifted back to his normal form and grabbed his phone, dialing quickly.

            "Guys? Valerie's on her way back, and she's pretty ticked off."

            "What happened?" Paulina's voice buzzed over the speaker.

            With a sigh, Tucker set to explaining the fight he'd had to break up.

\---

            "Thanks for the warning. We'll see you at the prison ruins then." Paulina hung up and surveyed the assembled search team. There hadn't been much point in Tucker following Valerie all the way back to headquarters when he was already halfway to the prison ruins, so she'd told him to go on ahead.

            Vlad would not be accompanying them; the billionaire had rightfully claimed that an abandoned wreckage in the middle of the Outlands was no place for him to be. He had tweaked one of the lab's portable ecto-scanners that they would bring however; it was untested, but Vlad hoped that perhaps the device would help them locate the gauntlet and its gems.

            Fully half of the Patrol force would be participating in the search led by the former Guy in White who knew the original layout of the prison; and most were in the upstairs launch deck making sure their gear was ready. The other half would remain at headquarters to handle routine patrols and to guard the portal. Common sense had many wanting to just close it off, but the ghosts present had prevailed in that argument. A reasonable compromise had been reached; ghosts fleeing Maghnus would be permitted through, but at the first sign of the tyrant or his minions, they would close it off. Most of the denizens of the Ghost Zone already knew the rules; they could come through the portal provided they behaved and followed the city's laws. It wasn't perfect, there was no way the city could cope with a massive influx of Ghost Zone refugees no matter how good relations were between the city and the ghosts; but it would work as a temporary arrangement, they just had to find that gauntlet and stop Maghnus before the temporary measures failed.

            _Easier said than done._ Paulina mentally complained before addressing the others. "You guys go on ahead. I'll talk some sense into Valerie and we'll head out after you."

            "You? Talk sense into her?" Danny tried to wipe the doubtful look off his face at a glare from the Latina. "I don't mean you can't, but she's... well, you know!"

            "Real smooth, Danny." Sam rolled her eyes. "You always know _exactly_ what to say to a girl."

            "I didn't mean it like that!" He protested weakly as the goth herded him out the door.

            "I can't say I disagree with Valerie about _him_ -" Sam nodded in Paulina's direction as she floated toward the stairs. "-but we do have bigger problems. I wouldn't want to try and tell her that though. Good luck."

            "Tucker didn't say where _he_ went after the argument, did he?" Danny frowned in thought as he and Sam drifted through the ceiling to head outside.

            "Nope... just that he flew off after verbally biting Valerie's head off." Sam scoffed.

            "Y'know, somebody should track him down." The usually soft-spoken ghost declared with uncharacteristic firmness.

            "You aren't suggesting-"

            "Somebody needs to, Sam. And I'm not going to be much use searching those ruins."

            Sam rounded on Danny at the self-depreciating comment. "More use than you will be if you do track _him_ down and get yourself obliterated! He's dangerous!"

            "Sam, you think I don't _know_ that?" Danny didn't raise his voice, and he didn't need to. "I was _there_ , I know first hand how dangerous he is. After _that_ , I'm not scared of anything else he could do to me."

            "You might not be, but what about me-" Sam faltered; even the year of sharing a lair with Danny in the Ghost Zone hadn't helped the goth ghost quite openly acknowledge her feelings for her friend. "-and Tucker, too. I mean... don't you care about making your friends worry?"

            "You mean that 'technology obsessed, lizard-brained traitor'?" Danny managed a wry grin, quoting back one of Sam's own rants about Tucker's stance regarding Dan. "Just trust me, okay? Please?"

            "Danny..." Sam sighed, relenting grudgingly. "Just... be careful. I-... _we_ lost you once already. Don't put everybody through that again."

            "I promise." Danny smiled slightly before he took off.

\---

            "That no-good, scale-brained...!" Valerie groused under her breath as she stalked toward the break room. "How dare he stick his stupid snout into my business like that-!"

            That was punctuated by the sharp slam of the door she kicked open. Patrol headquarters was almost completely silent, all the members either out on patrol or wisely staying out of their commander's way. Several of them probably recalled all too clearly their encounters with Valerie after the old city's shield had fallen; the huntress in her present mood no doubt brought back uncomfortable memories of trying to deal with the halfway insane woman that had stalked the ruins like a red-clad shadow hunting Phantom over a year ago.

            Contrary to the rest of the building, someone was waiting in the break room, arms crossed and a stern look on her tanned face.

            "Looks like you're in a wonderful mood, Valerie." Paulina commented dryly, the Latina's tone unusually hard.

            "You would be too if Phantom-" The huntress poured extra venom into the name. "-tried to pin the blame for all his killing on you!"

            "Okay, I guess that would be pretty aggravating." Paulina admitted after a brief pause. "But you _have_ been provoking him at every opportunity since he showed back up."

            "I have not!" Valerie protested indignantly. "He-"

            "I know what he did." The city mayor cut her off sharply. "And I'm not going to forgive him for it, either. But you need to back off on him."

            "Don't you dare tell me you've softened up on that _murderer_!" Valerie all but shrieked.

            "Valerie, listen to yourself." Paulina clearly had to force her calm tone and expression, if the slight twitch of one eyebrow was any indication. "You're raving like a lunatic."

            "I am not!" She protested with a huff.

            "Let me ask a question then. If left on your own right now, what would you be doing?" Paulina asked bluntly.

            "What do you _think_ I'd be doing?" Valerie snapped in response. "Tracking him down to finish him off!"

            "Because there isn't something _more important_ you should be doing?" The Latina stressed the words while trying to hold back the sarcasm.

            "He destroyed the city and-"

            "And right now he's not doing anything, and we've got bigger things to worry about." Paulina interrupted icily. "Namely the ghost that kicked _his_ butt from here to next Sunday!"

            "But he-"

            "Isn't doing anything different from what _we're_ trying to do- stop Maghnus!" Paulina broke in again, cutting Valerie's tirade off before it could get started. "You've been obsessing ever since he showed up again! It's like..."

            "Like _what_?" Valerie growled.

            "Like the six months after the shield fell." Paulina replied flatly. "When you were a crazed woman bent on that one goal to the exclusion of everything else. That might have worked well enough then, when he _was_ the only threat to the city. But right now he's _not_ the big threat, and I don't like to admit it, but we'll probably need his _help_ to deal with the real danger!"

            Valerie fell silent, her expression furious. She had no good retort to Paulina's accusations, and loathe though she was to admit it even to herself, the ghost wasn't an immediate danger to everyone. Maybe that was why she was constantly needling him; if she got him angry enough, maybe then he would _make_ himself a threat and thereby justify her desire to hunt him down and finish him off.

            "Let's get going." Paulina let her own expression soften once it became clear Valerie wasn't going to go off on another tirade. "We've already got every person we can spare from the Patrol and City Hall helping look for that other gauntlet in the old prison ruins. Don't want _him_ finding it, right?"

            "Over my dead body!"

            Paulina withheld a slight sigh at the huntress' sudden enthusiasm about the gauntlet. _Well, motivation is motivation, I guess. Hopefully this won't bite us all on the rear later._

\---

            Danny flew slowly, scanning the ground a hundred feet below as he searched the still ruins for movement. He wasn't sure where exactly he was going, his search certainly had no real organization to it. It was a hunch, driven by a decade's worth of musings. Something had been bothering him for a long time, and Danny hadn't been able to talk to any of his friends about it; it was deeply personal, and he knew that try though they might, Sam and Tucker, and especially Valerie wouldn't have been able to understand it if he had tried to explain it.

            His hunch pulled him toward a location in the ruins he visited as infrequently as possible; he'd only been there once since he'd manifested as a ghost, and that only at Sam's urging. He spied movement below, a flicker of white and black against the shades of grey and green that marked the grave site.

            Dan stood there, arms crossed, staring up at the battered statue that towered above even his impressive height. Danny couldn't see the other ghost's expression, all he could see was the jagged cape billowing out behind the other ghost in the wind. If he was aware of Danny's presence, he made no indication of it.

            Danny touched down silently a dozen feet behind the other ghost, his own gaze drifting toward the statue that held his other half's stare. Five pairs of cold and unseeing stone eyes leered down at the two ghosts, sightless gazes carrying silent accusation. Sam and Tucker may never have blamed him for what happened, but that was little consolation after the years spent isolated in the Wisconsin wilderness.

            "Come to pick up where Valerie left off?" Dan growled, not turning around. "She covered all the accusations _quite_ thoroughly already."

            "That's what I heard." Danny replied noncommittally. "I think we already had our argument years ago. In Wisconsin."

            "I'm _not_ going to apologize." Dan glanced at Danny over one shoulder to glare with one red eye..

            "I know." Danny responded, eyeing the grave marker and ignoring the taller ghost's glower. Why had his other self come here of all places? The statue was a blatant reminder of the past that the tall spook had been running from for ten years. Running from and trying to erase from existence by whatever violent means necessary. Why **had** Dan _stopped_ running?

            "What do you _want_?" The fire-headed ghost finally growled, turning around to face his shorter counterpart.

            "Answers, mostly." Danny paused, considering how to voice what he wanted to ask, preferably without getting his head blasted off for the effort. "I'll be the first to admit that if it wasn't for your help back there in the Ghost Zone, we would have all been toast."

            Dan snorted at the not-quite-thanks. "You're all too _weak_ to take Maghnus on."

            The other ghost raised an eyebrow at the bravado. "Right, let's take a moment to remember who it was that Valerie found beat to within an inch of his afterlife, shall we?"

            Dan bristled at the reminder of how badly he'd lost in his first encounter with the ghost king's deranged brother. If not for Tucker's quick thinking after Valerie had found him senseless in the ruins, he would have been little more than a memory himself.

            "Seriously though." Danny backed off a few steps when he saw the taller ghost clenching fists in barely-restrained anger. "I know what you became ten years ago. I was there. But you're not the same ghost that killed me eleven years ago. The you from just a year ago would have killed Valerie on sight, rather than let her get away with all that provocation."

            "I haven't changed." Dan protested with a growl, though Danny caught an undercurrent in the taller ghost's tone that indicated his heart wasn't in the denial. "The very same mismatched fusion of _Danny Phantom_ and _Vlad Plasmius._ " He tone was mocking as he recited the names of his two halves.

            "Right, that _totally_ disturbing fact aside-" Danny cringed at the thought. "You've changed since you came back from the past. You're _sane_ , for starters. What happened?"

            Dan snorted at the question, forcing himself to unclench his fists. The urge to blast his other self would always be there, a temptation to erase his weakness. He resisted, self-control he was still learning to master, taking a few calming breaths. "We're pretty ingenious in that other timeline."

            Danny nodded slightly. He had assumed that his alternate past self, the him with friends and family and a happier life had something to do with Dan's change in behavior. "So what'd I... ur... he... no, wait, I guess we? Gah, I hate time travel." Danny groused, trying to wrap his incomplete high school education around the issue of alternate time streams and other selves. "What'd we... yeah, let's just go with that. What'd we do?"

            "The Ghostcatcher. And Jazz with all her psycho-babble." Dan's answer was simple, and cut out a great many of the details of that traumatizing, yet ultimately beneficial experience. Ten years of rampaging, ten years of trying to burn the painful memories away in a deranged attempt to forget the trauma that had driven him mad in the first place. It had been thanks to his sister's clever thinking and deft handling of the situation that had allowed the traumatized half of him to finally move past all those deaths.

            Danny's glowing blue eyes widened at the explanation. "Wait, you were split back into the two-? And you fused _back_ afterward?!"

            Dan nodded once, not meeting his other self's gaze. "It was _this_ -" He gestured at himself. "Or oblivion. I may be quite messed up, but I am _not_ suicidal."

            "That could be argued, y'know." Danny remarked dryly, feeling comfortable enough or bold enough to needle the other ghost. "Not that I can really blame you."

            The two stood there as another awkward silence fell over the graveyard. That certainly explained Dan's seemingly uncharacteristic shift in behavior. Danny glanced up at the likeness of Jazz carved into the stone. Of course it would have been her to piece together some psychological  issue that turned his worse half into something other than an insane killer.

            "Why are you bothering me?" Dan muttered. "Of all people, I would think _you_ the least likely to forgive anything."

            "Of all people, I think I've got the most reason to." Danny countered quietly, more to himself than to Dan.

            "Stop talking nonsense." The taller ghost frowned, ill at ease since Danny didn't seem to be reacting to him the way most people did. He expected anger, maybe like how Valerie was, or Sam. Tucker's uneasiness at least, civil but wary like someone dealing with a half-wild dog and not sure about how safe it was. "Why should you be so uselessly forgiving of anything? Or did having your arms torn off addle your wits?"

            Danny flinched, hands clasping his arms near the elbows; the pain of his demise something never far from his thoughts. "Because I _was_ useless. You said it yourself a decade ago. I was too useless, too weak. I couldn't save anybody. All this isn't your fault, or Valerie's."

            "In case you've forgotten, it was no thanks to _her_ that we went to Wisconsin in the first place and agreed to Vlad's asinine operation." Dan growled, not wanting to let anybody give the huntress any slack for her role in events. "Why are you being so...... forgiving?"

            "Because..." Danny tore his gaze from the statue to look Dan square in the eyes. "Maybe if I can learn to forgive you.... I'll be able to forgive _myself_."

            Dan stared agape at the shorter ghost, not having expected such a statement. Danny pressed on in the silence, not sure if the taller ghost would interrupt if he waited.

            "It was _my_ weakness that caused it all. Those test answers." Danny blurted in a rush. "The others don't see it, or maybe don't want to, but I remember. Taking the answers, cheating on that test. If I hadn't-"

            "Lancer wouldn't have called for that meeting at the Nasty Burger." Dan finished the statement. "In case you forgot, that's as much on my head as yours. Still, it's an improvement not to have someone jumping down my throat about the past. Things _have_ changed."

            Silence fell over the pair again, slightly more companionable than when Danny had first arrived. Unlike the others, he had a far different perspective on the fire-headed ghost. Fifteen years of shared experience and memory, two sides of the same coin. Danny suspected it was similar for Vlad in dealing with Dan; the similarities a jarring reminder of just how bizarre their situation was. Sure, part of him wanted to hate the taller ghost for what he'd done, but by rights, wouldn't he have to despise himself as well?

            "Getting into a shouting match with Valerie isn't going to convince her you've changed, you know." Danny finally said, pushing his previous thoughts out of his mind in favor of a more recent subject..

            "I _know_." Dan outright hissed, seemingly back to his usual unpleasant self. He hadn't intended for his blunt discussion with the huntress to degenerate into a shouting fight and then an actual fight. It had just... happened. He turned away from the grave marker and from Danny, a stray breeze tugging at his cape.

            "So what are you going to do now?" Danny asked, opting for a slightly less agitating topic. "I think Tucker wants to get everyone to work together to deal with Maghnus."

            Dan raised one glowing hand, green energy swirling into a portal in the air in front of him, apparently having reached some decision on the subject. " _I'm_ going to stop Maghnus. With or _without_ Valerie's help. I don't need **her** help to repay him the beating he gave me."

            "You realize Maghnus is _way_ more powerful than you are, and that's without even considering that gauntlet of his?" Danny raised an eyebrow. At least Dan wasn't going to try and find the Reality Gauntlet before Valerie and the others. Changed or not, the idea of the fire-haired ghost armed with a powerful device like one of the Gauntlets of the Ascendancy was terrifying.

            Dan snorted derisively at the remark, already halfway through the portal as he turned to stare his weaker self right in the eyes.

            "So was Pariah."


	19. The Hunt and the Hunted

**The Hunt and the Hunted**  
"You know that sanity is not as it was meant to be  
And now that misery has taken a new stand"  
_-"My Spirit Will Go On" - Dragonforce_

            Danny stood gaping for several long moments after the portal had spun to nothing. Did Dan honestly think he could fight something like Maghnus all alone?

            _Then again, did_ you _honestly think you could fight Pariah by yourself, even with the power suit?_

            Danny tried to ignore that particular point. The facts were clear; Dan could not possibly hope to _win_ against Maghnus, and he had to know that. So what did the flame-headed ghost intend to accomplish on his own against the tyrant? He paced in front of the memorial statue, trying to figure it out. He’d barely spoken with the other ghost, how could Danny possibly guess what Dan’s intentions were?

            “Oh, duh!” Danny slapped himself. _I shouldn’t be asking what_ he’s _doing. What would_ I _do in this situation?_

            That was simple enough; he’d be trying to stall for time. He would be flying into the face of danger, throwing everything he had at Maghnus; and all to buy as much time as possible for his friends to find the solution. They knew the solution now, it was just a literal matter of _finding_ where the heck it was. Danny knew he no longer had anywhere near the strength to make an attempt at stalling something like Maghnus, and he would be wasting his effort if he tried.

            But he _could_ bring the news to the others, and help find that solution lying hidden and buried in the rubble.

\---

            Dan perched invisible on a tower wall like some sort of misshapen, oversized crow, surveying the activity below. _He certainly isn't wasting his time, is he?_

            It was tempting to just fly in and start blasting, but that tactic would only end badly for him and do little lasting damage, if any for Maghnus and his forces. For the time being, this was not a fight of brute strength, but rather one of cunning and stealth. Dan had managed it in his youth, when he couldn't overpower Pariah and had instead outwitted the stronger ghost. Since then he'd had little use for strategy beyond "fly in and destroy everything within at least a mile."

            He couldn't fight Maghnus directly, not yet. Given time he would continue to grow stronger, though he suspected it would take decades at the least to come even with the tyrant's power; unlike the few years it took him to match Pariah. Even then, he would need to make Maghnus weaker in order to secure victory. Against Pariah, that had been achieved by stealing the Crown of Fire, and then forcibly taking the Ring of Rage. Getting that piece of the Greater Ascendancy from Maghnus would be far more difficult, perhaps even impossible without having the Reality Gauntlet.

            Helping the others find _that_ would be productive... maybe. Dan knew that the Ghost Zone would probably freeze over before any of them would let him have the device; and he couldn't really blame them for it either. Besides, there was no guarantee that Maghnus would leave them alone long enough to find the blasted contraption.

            Dan studied the battalion working below. He had passed several such gatherings, each one much like every other; a battalion of veiled ghosts, usually with a squadron of the ghostly beasts. Each was setting up an outpost, complete with outer walls, watch towers, siege equipment, and all the other accouterments of a military operation. Maghnus was rapidly expanding and securing the territory he claimed, it would only be a short matter of time before the huge ghost found one of the portals.

            Assuming, of course, that nothing interfered with the territorial expansion.

            _I’ll have to keep Maghnus focused on me._ Dan decided, shifting slightly as he prepared to move. _I have one advantage that he doesn’t, since I can make my own gateways to and from the Ghost Zone. If I start attacking his military infrastructure and then getting away by portal before he can arrive, that should keep him guessing and distracted since he seems to think I know where his precious gauntlet is._

            As an added bonus, he would get to destroy stuff again; and that was a major point in favor for his chosen plan.

            Rising to his feet, Dan turned visible again, taking a deep breath before commencing the first raid of many to come.

\---

            “What is he doing?”

            “Did Clockwork know this was going to happen?”

            It was not their usual haven, the Observatory since abandoned and left to the ravages of Maghnus and his forces. Instead, the Observants had scattered to the far corners of the Ghost Zone, taking what gear they could carry from their old headquarters in the vain hope of continuing their observation of events. With their security forces wiped out and their own numbers easily halved in their one disastrous encounter with Maghnus, it was all the Observants could do just to avoid being discovered, any refuge purely temporary.

            The pair of one-eyed ghosts watched through a portable distance-viewer, mono-eyes wide as they watched Dan level an outpost with a short blast of the Ghostly Wail before moving in to annihilate the survivors by hand. At various hideouts scattered throughout the Zone, other one-eyed ghosts watched the same scene unfold. Dan rampaging unchecked had been a cause for fear and concern before, when the destruction of Amity Park had been the fire-headed ghost's only goal; now the carnage unfolding brought the exact opposite, perhaps a glimmer of hope that the rampage wouldn't be stopped.

            "Clockwork surely planned this all along." One of the Observants stated quietly. "The pawn he spoke of before, most likely."

            The outpost destroyed, Dan vanished in a flash of green, causing a brief flutter of surprise from the ghosts observing. A few moments later the viewers re-calibrated themselves, showing Dan stepping through a portal hanging suspended in midair over a random city. Another portal opened a moment after, and once again the Observants had to wait briefly for their observational gear to lock onto the tall ghost again. When the image steadied, Dan was laying waste to another outpost with all the ruthless efficiency he'd mastered over a decade of unchecked rampage.

            "He could prove useful." One of the Observants noted quietly.

            "We can't trust the fate of the entire world to him!" The other protested. "In a battle of evil against evil, no matter who the victor is, _evil_ still wins!"

            "That is true, however we could still use him." The viewer shifted to show the ruins of Amity Park, particularly the bustle amid the debris of what had once been a prison. Several humans, accompanied by two large dragon ghosts, were busily digging through the wreckage in a vaguely orderly search. "While he is busy fighting Maghnus' forces, they are looking for the Reality Gauntlet."

            "The girl hasn't been able to fight him for years now."

            "True, but the Amity Park Ghost Patrol has better weaponry than they had before... and if they get the gauntlet and deal with Maghnus, she'll likely turn that power against him afterward." The ghost looked as though he would be smiling if anything more than his single eye was visible above his collar. "Provided Maghnus is kept distracted from the human world until the humans find it."

            "It is a plan with too many risks. What will stop the humans from abusing its power the way Maghnus does?"

            "We cannot afford to wait until a completely risk-free option presents itself. Time is a luxury we no longer have if we wish to have any say in events. Our tools are limited and we have to make use of what we can."

            A moment of silence passed between the two.

            "Well? What do you propose then?"

            "Simply enough, that we assist Phantom in his current efforts." The ghost's tone carried a smug sort of satisfaction. "He appears to be targeting Maghnus' forces and forward bases right now. Surely he himself only knows the location of a handful of them... information we can provide him; like the hand that guides a sword."

            "A more apt metephor would be the hand that lights the fuse and hopes that the weapon doesn't blow up instead of fire properly." The other sounded thoroughly doubtful. "But I see the merits of such a plan, though I have my reservations about the attendant risks."

            "As do I, but our options are severely limited since Clockwork's disappearance. Given the attack on his tower, it seems likely that Maghnus got him. Especially given that Danny Fenton found the Master of Time's staff; it is unlikely he would abandon that in an escape."

            "So we are decided then?"

            "It would seem so."

\---

            "On the count of three, pull!" Sam hovered above a particularly large beam, guiding Tucker and Dora in moving the debris. "One.... two..... THREE!"

            The two ghosts were both in dragon form, and on the goth's signal pulled the warped steel beam up, raising another shower of dust and pulverized concrete powder over the area. Stepping carefully to avoid tripping on the wreckage or other workers, they dropped the thing on a new pile of debris well outside the area that the gauntlet was suspected to be in.

            As soon as the dragons were clear, Valerie and Paulina swept the newly uncovered mess, a somewhat ungainly scanning device held in a makeshift sling between their jet sleds. Nearby bulldozers roared away, removing the smaller debris from areas that had been deemed clear of any trace of the gauntlet. The two hunters paused over a particular concrete boulder, frowning.

            "The scanner's getting a faint reading... probably something underneath this thing I'd guess." Valerie checked the device, then the boulder.

            "Easy way to check while we wait for the heavy lifters to get back." Sam dropped from her aerial vantage, landing atop the boulder in question before turning it and herself invisible and intangible. "See anything?"

            The two humans hopped down from their sleds to get a closer look, fussing with the lightweight wreckage that they could move. After a few moments Paulina let out a loud gasp, grasping at something in a bunch of small stones.

            "I think I got something! I always knew being able to spot something expensive at a hundred yards would come in handy!" The Latina crowed, holding her prize aloft.

            "Well what is it? And could you move so I can stop holding this thing intangible?" Sam muttered with some irritation.

            Paulina's prize wasn't much to look at, a clump of concrete grit and pebbles that must have settled together in a loose conglomerate over the years of exposure to the elements. As the group stepped clear of the boulder, all eyes turned to the unimpressive bit of rock.

            "That's your big find?" Sam raised an eyebrow doubtfully.

            "Hold on a minute!" Paulina waved the goth's doubt off, breaking chunks of grit and pebbles away from the thing.

            A few moments of work revealed a red stone, its surface dulled by a decade of dust. Through the veiling of dust however, there was no doubt that it was a cut stone, the daylight striking a glimmer wherever the dust was thin enough.

            "This look like one of the gems?" Valerie flagged over the former Guys in White agent.

            "Let me see..." He took the stone, rinsing it off with a bit of water from a bottle he was carrying. The water made quick work of the remaining dust, revealing brilliant red gleaming in the sunlight. "... Definitely, this is one of the Reality Gauntlet's gems!"

            "Alright, then we can probably assume the rest are nearby!" Sam gave a cheer.

            "Then let's get going!"Valerie shouted, turning to the bulky scanner with renewed enthusiasm.

\---

            "Say hi to oblivion!" Dan smirked, ducking through a portal after leaving another outpost in ruin.

            He paused for a short break after closing his temporary portal behind him, feeling pretty good about the entire affair. Three outposts down, and the fire-headed ghost was just getting started!

            _It's almost_ too _easy!_ Dan smirked to himself, the expression turning to a thoughtful frown. _Way too easy. There ought to be more opposition than I've had so far. Am I really catching them so off guard?_

            That wasn't the only issue the tall ghost was facing with his scheme. He was already low on new targets to take out. Further scouting would mean two problems: the risk of Maghnus catching up to him while scouting for new targets; and the chance of the tyrant finding a way to the real world during the lull in violence.

            _I'll just have to take my chances._ Dan grumbled to himself, ducking back into the Ghost Zone. _Either I'll find something else to blow up, or it'll come and find me._

"There you are."

            Not expecting anyone right on the other side of his portal, Dan whirled in surprise, ecto-blast formed and ready to launch.

            "Wait, don't shoot! We're not here to fight you!"

            Dan pulled his blow just in time, glowing fist stopping just inches from the cringing faces of a pair of one-eyed ghosts. It didn't take him long to recognize them for Observants, and the knowing did little to soften his harsh expression. Still, he pulled his fist back and stood glaring with his arms crossed.

            "What do _you_ want, and with me of all people?" Dan growled at the pair.

            "To assist the destruction of one Maghnus Dark, actually." One of the two Observants managed to stand upright and look the fire-headed ghost in the face.

            "Whatever happened to watching but never interfering?" Dan sneered. "Oh wait, that's right; your idea of non-interference is to natter at Clockwork until he meddles for you."

            "I assume that you are unaware of what Maghnus has done to our organization." The other Observant spoke up, though he remained slightly behind his cohort. "Our numbers are nearly halved from our attempt at stopping him. We have little other choice than to put our faith in the strength of others to take him down."

            "Oh, this is just _rich_!" Dan started to snicker as if he'd heard a joke. "Asking your worst nightmare to bail you out of the hot seat!"

            "Not exactly." The bolder of the two ghosts interrupted Dan's laughter. "You are already attempting to fight Maghnus, and we have information that would be of use in your campaign against his forces."

            Dan raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

            "It seems you're targeting Maghnus' forward bases and military outposts, rather than target the tyrant himself. Powerful though you are, you've only the one set of eyes with which to search out your vic- I mean, targets." The one-eyed ghost corrected himself.

            "Duplication techniques notwithstanding, that is." The fire-headed ghost corrected with a smirk. "I see your point. What are you offering?"

            The one-eyed spook would probably be grinning if his tone of voice was any indication. "Access to our entire network. The rest of the Observants are... well, observing... as we speak. We can provide you a considerable list of where Maghnus' forces are located to decimate at your leisure."

            The other eyebrow joined the first in an elevated position before Dan spoke, suspicion lowering his voice. "And what's the catch? I doubt you're offering me this out of the goodness of your hearts."

            The two Observants glanced at one another before the bolder one spoke up. "There is no catch. We want Maghnus gone, or at least weakened; and it seems you're the best chance of that goal being achieved. No other ghost in the Ghost Zone can come anywhere close to you in strength, and there is certainly nothing in the human world that could compete with you, let alone with Maghnus."

            "I'm glad you finally figured _that_ out." Dan preened at the appeal to his pride. "It only took you what? Ten years?"

            "Yes, well-" The more timid of the two Observants fidgeted. "-things do change-"

            "I'll accept the help, on one condition." Dan interrupted, back to business.

            The two Observants shared uneasy looks with one another. "A condition?"

            "How do I know your locations aren't some sort of trap? After all, I don't have any real reason to trust anything you tell me, given your.... prior position... in regards to me." Dan smirked wickedly, one fang showing. "So my condition is that one or both of you tag along."

            "What?!"

            "You heard me." Dan stated flatly. "If it's a trap, you'll get dragged down with me. If you're not setting me up... well then, you'll have front-row seats to _observe_ the carnage. Doesn't seem like a bad deal **if** you're being honest."

            The two Observants huddled briefly, the muted sounds of an argument reaching Dan's pointed ears. He smirked, it was the perfect way to verify this information they suddenly wanted to be oh-so-helpful with. If it was a trap, they would be unwilling to go with him, and he doubted they were so selfless as to take one for the team just to get him to walk into a trap.

            The muted debate ended and the two Observants stood straight, once again facing Dan.

            "We agree to your terms."

\---

            "Sire, we have begun to receive reports of resistance!" A bulky skeleton ghost clad in spiked armor announced, bowing before the throne that had until recently belonged to Tucker and Dora. "A number of our patrol outposts have been decimated without warning!"

            Maghnus leered down at the flunky, red pupils ominous in dangerously narrowed black eyes. "And who is it that dares defy me?"

            The goon shifted awkwardly under the tyrant's glare. "There... have not been any survivors to tell of it."

            The giant ghost stood silent for a long moment, dark stare boring holes in the unfortunate lackey who knelt trembling and awaiting a response. There were not many that Maghnus knew of that would be capable of the wholesale demolition and hit and run tactics. Clockwork could hit and run, but as far as any knew, the Master of Time was not powerful in a destructive manner; and besides, he had disappeared, presumed destroyed in the siege on the clock tower. There was that fire-headed ghost that had to hold the secret to the other gauntlet's location; _he_ was certainly capable of both the mobile tactics and the grandiose scale of the demolition.

            "Prepare my personal guard. I suspect I know who is behind this malfeasance, and I swear by my rightful throne that for this trespass, he shall _pay_!"


	20. Slamming Doors

**Slamming Doors**  
"You show no regrets  
About all the things you did or said  
I have failed you  
But believe me  
You failed me too"  
_-"Destroyed" - Within Temptation_ **  
**

            "That's it?"

            "Yes, that is the nearest of his outposts."

            "Additionally, it appears to serve as a major supply depot for most of his operations in this area."

            "Is it now?"

            Dan smirked while his two reluctant companions exchanged fretful glances; all three peering at the facility in question from behind a distant floating boulder. So far the Observants seemed to be playing honest, there was no doubt or question that the bustling outpost a few hundred yards away was under the command of Maghnus. Maybe they really _were_ so desperate as to be honest with him.

            "How are you going to attack it?" One of the mono-eyed ghosts dug up the courage to ask.

            "I fly in and start blowing stuff up, how else would I attack it?" Dan retorted dryly.

            "Isn't that... rather blatant and unsubtle?" The other Observant squeaked.

            "I don't _do_ subtle." The hot-tempered ghost sneered, lobbing a green energy blast the size of a small car over the boulder and square into the center of the complex.

            It detonated, the shockwave breaking over the boulder the trio where hiding behind. An alarm klaxon began to wail as the outpost turned into a swarm of panic like a kicked anthill; a smaller green explosion went off, and the alarm swiftly fell silent.

            "What-?"

            "I'm good at multitasking." Dan smirked wickedly. "And here I thought you had been paying attention?"

            The two Observants exchanged confused glances before looking to the outpost again, where explosions continued to rip through the complex. Two ghosts were attacking in tandem, matching capes billowing in the wind...

            "What the-!"

            "I can duplicate myself, remember?" Dan remarked boredly over the rumble of another blast. "You didn't honestly thing I was just going to leave the two of you unsupervised, did you?"

            Meanwhile, the duplicates darted into the thick of the confusion, one copy flinging energy blasts at the watch towers; the other grabbing catapults and other siege engines and throwing them at the flustered army grunts. The Observants exchanged uncomfortable glances, the scene evoked an all too familiar memory from over a year ago: maniacal laughter, a city in panic, a demon incarnate rampaging unchecked through the streets and tossing aside heavy military vehicles like playthings. That Dan was doing such things for a cause they supported did little to make the scene any less unnerving.

            "While I'm busy tearing the place to bits, where is the next one?" The taller ghost smirked, his conversational tone ever-so-slightly malignant.

            "Our network sighted another one roughly twenty miles in that direction-" One of the Observants pointed into the distance. "That's the next closest one to our current location."

            Another explosion, and a skeletal monster went sailing over the boulder with a yelp. An instant later one of the copy-Dans darted overhead, grabbing the monster and bodily tearing the bony beast in half, quickly discarding the corpse and floating down to join the conversation.

            "That's too close." The new arrival picked up the discussion without missing a beat.

            "The idea is to hit Maghnus in random places." The original smirked, suddenly taking flight and joining the battle in the rapidly falling outpost and leaving the duplicate to continue discussing targets with the Observants.

            "He can't predict where I'll appear and set up an ambush if there isn't a pattern." The duplicate finished the other's comment.

            The Observants glanced at one another uneasily while Dan smirked. The use of his duplicates and tagging in and out wasn't so much for the efficient destruction of the base, though having two attackers was quicker than if he had just gone in solo. Despite his claim of not being subtle, the duplication ploy was specifically to make Dan's current allies uneasy; he wanted them kept firmly off balance while dealing with him.

            He chuckled his amusement at their anxious glances as he flew in over the smoldering depot, snatching what he assumed was a higher ranked goon by the heavily embroidered red cloak. Ducking a flurry of indignant sword swings, Dan half-spun and launched the goon to a shattering impact against the nearest intact section of the fortified wall.

            "You know, you really need to quit thinking so two-dimensionally." He quipped, blasting another attacker that was trying to sneak up behind him.

            "This is modern warfare, and you aren't protected at all from aerial assaults!" His duplicate finished the taunt as the two ghosts both jumped into the air, circling overhead like a pair of giant vultures.

            The two begun systematically carpet-bombing the outpost from above, a veritable rain of small to medium sized beams and explosive fireballs. Explosions rocked the complex, the last remaining sections of wall and watchtowers crashing down with the sort of roar that would make the ground shake if any remained.

            Dan's two duplicates winked out as he landed in front of the wide-eyed Observants, dusting off his gloves. Without further preamble, he formed a portal out of the Ghost Zone and hauled them through after him.

            "Alright, where's the next one?" Dan smiled wickedly.

\---

            "And that's what he said he was going to do." Danny concluded his account of what Dan told him. "He's probably causing havoc in the Ghost Zone right now."

            "Well, that keeps him busy, I guess." Paulina frowned, studying a pile of rubble.

            "Oh, so he thinks _he_ can just waltz into the Ghost Zone and -"

            "Seriously Valerie, stay on target." Tucker interrupted with a bass rumble while hefting one of the larger slabs of broken concrete. "If he's busy fighting right now, that keeps him out from underfoot so we can find this gauntlet thing."

            "Besides, if he's going to be rampaging and attacking anybody, it might as well be the same guy we're fighting against." Sam pointed out. "After all, he could have decided to find the gauntlet, too."

            _Nobody_ wanted to contemplate the situation that would have resulted from that. Another fight at the very least, and a serious and potentially fatal distraction from the real danger at the worst. Plus the idea of Dan armed with anything remotely approaching ultimate power was not a pleasant one, no matter how much he might have changed.

            "I just don't know what he thinks he can do." Danny remarked as he joined the search efforts. "He's not stupid, he has to know he's nowhere near as powerful as Maghnus is. Trying to fight that guy head on is just asking for another pounding!"

            "We can't control what he does." Dora dragged a steel beam out of the wreckage. "As you've said, he isn't stupid. I doubt he will likely confront that tyrant directly until he's fairly certain of victory."

            "I don't care what _he_ does." Valerie grumbled, waving a scanning wand over the smaller debris revealed by the removal of the beam. "Hey, hold on a second-!"

            The scanner was beeping at something in the pile of rubble. Nearly all activity ground to a halt as all eyes turned toward the huntress and the heap of debris she was examining. In moments, shovels were out and the effort concentrated on digging through the smaller fragments of pulverized concrete.

            Slowly the dull gleam of gold became visible, the sunlight striking a faint shimmer from something smooth and metallic among the gritty rubble. The sight of the treasure prodded the efforts on, and before long Valerie was prying their find out of the wreckage. It was golden in color, the shine visible even through nearly a decade's worth of dust, the metallic surface itself unmarred for all it had been exposed to the elements. It was shaped like an armored glove, the fingers tipped with points lending the appearance of claws. One side had a series of angular indentations, appearing to be settings for some sort of stones; undoubtedly the gemstones Vlad told them about.

            "The gauntlet!" Sam gasped.

            "Hey, that's great!" Danny grinned. "We found it!"

            "Not to rain on the parade guys, but it's a little early to be celebrating." Tucker pointed out. "We've got one gem, and the gauntlet itself. We still need three more gems, remember? Two more of the magic ones, and the power source one."

            The reminder put an immediate damper on the premature celebration as with a few grumbles everyone scattered back to work. Valerie heaved a sigh and experimentally slid the gauntlet over her right arm, flexing the jointed metal. It didn't _feel_ like any sort of super-powerful artifact from the ancient Ghost Zone; in anything, it felt like a stuffy and vaguely uncomfortable piece of flimsy metal armor, even if it fit her arm perfectly.

            _Just a few more gems to go and then we'll be ready to go up against that ghost!_

\---

            "This isn't a good location-"

            "What do you mean it isn't?" Dan glowered at the Observants. "You just told me a few minutes ago that this was a good location to hit!"

            "What my partner means is we have just received word that Maghnus is in the area." The other mono-eyed ghost countered. "Your attack on the outpost might draw his attention prematurely."

            "You mean you haven't figured it _out_ by now?" The fire-headed ghost sneered. "I _want_ his attention. This is perfect."

            The outpost was in the middle of the debris field that had once been Walker's prison a long time ago, and cut from the same mold as the previous half dozen places Dan had already trashed. The debris field would provide ample cover for Dan's getaway after the explosions attracted the tyrant's attention.

            "Wait-"

            The first explosion interrupted the one-eyed ghost, as Dan was already entering the fray. He neglected to leave a clone watching the two Observants; they had proven themselves either trustworthy enough or too cowardly to attempt any treachery. The first series of blasts knocked in walls and sent skeletal goons scattering in panic. Before long, ballistas and other war engines were caught in the conflagration, adding to the chaos as ropes snapped, supports cracked and weapons misfired into the confusion.

            "We should get away before the tyrant comes to see what's going on."

            "But if we do that, we will lose our best hope of _stopping_ Maghnus."

            The Observants' debate was cut short by a red blast lancing across the outpost, silencing the battle save for the thunderclap of its passing a moment later. Dan whirled, either expecting the disturbance; or pretending he had been expecting it. Maghnus strode forward through the smoke and scattering minions before him, sword held ready with a red gleam.

            "So the coward has finally chosen to reveal himself!" The tyrant bellowed, the ground shaking with every step toward Dan.

            "Took the words right out of my mouth." Dan sneered in response, kicking off the ground to hover eye level with the giant ghost.. "I was wondering how long until you decided to crawl out of your hole and come play."

            "Hand over the rest of the Ascendancy, and your destruction will be swift and painless." Maghnus growled, leveling his sword to point at the fire-headed ghost.

            "Isn't this the part where you demand I give it to you in exchange for my life?" Dan countered, one hand behind his back and preparing an energy blast.

            "Your life has long been forfeit, since the time of your first infantile resistance!" The tyrant roared. "And now you still test my patience; your demise shall be assuredly slow, and you will be awake and aware for every moment of its pure agony as I use my strength to dismantle everything that you are, were, and ever shall be!"

            The boast was met with an explosive blast to the face, Dan holding one hand forward and looking smug at his work.

            "You talk too much."

            Maghnus met the taunt with an inarticulate bellow of rage and launched himself at the smaller ghost. Dan was caught by surprise at the tyrant's speed, and was only able to move out of the way enough to be smacked by the flat of the sword rather than the blade's cruel edge.

            "We must flee!" In a flash, the two Observants were beside Dan, who had been sent reeling several hundred feet from the impact. "Hurry, one of those portals!"

            "Don't tell me what to do." Dan snapped, backhanding the nearer of the two ghosts.

            Maghnus loomed closer, but his murderous gaze had changed to one of mild confusion. The tyrant wasn't looking at Dan, but at something a dozen feet to the left, shining with its own light.

            "What trickery is this?!" Maghnus boomed, advancing on the other object.

            Dan bit back a curse and launched himself at the tyrant, one shoulder slamming the larger ghost in the midsection and knocking him momentarily off balance. He took the brief lapse to plant himself between Maghnus and the glowing vortex.

            Vlad's portal.

\---

            "Found another one!" Paulina crowed, holding her prize aloft. "Two, I think!"

            It was the first good sign since they had found the gauntlet itself a few days prior. Between the long, fruitless hours, uncomfortable weather, and continued tension about Dan and Maghnus, tempers had grown short.

            "Did you? Which ones?" In an instant a crowd gathered around the cheerleader, who was hurriedly working on breaking up another chunk of congealed rubble, slowly prying her prizes from the debris.

            "Blue one, and a yellow one!" Paulina announced, holding up the two stones so the dusty gems caught the light and sparkled. "Is that all of them?"

            "Not yet." Valerie groused, taking the stones and fitting them into their settings on the gauntlet. "We still need to find the last one, that Vlad said powers the thing. Until we have that, it's just a gaudy decorative piece."

            "Ech, you've got that right about being gaudy." Paulina made a face as she looked at the device Valerie was wearing. "If it wasn't some kind of super powerful weapon, I'd want to sell it or scrap it to get a nice new necklace or something instead!"

            "Well the sooner we stop gabbing about fashion, the sooner we'll find the thing." Sam muttered, already moving a small boulder off the pile of rubble.

            "What's the status report from Patrol HQ?" Tucker decided to change the topic before the girls could start sniping at one another again.

            "Last I heard from Vlad, there's been a steady stream of ghosts fleeing the Ghost Zone." Valerie admitted. "He said that he and Undergrowth are coordinating things so the ghosts have somewhere to stay without disrupting the city. And apparently _he_ has been busy harassing that Maghnus guy, from what some of the refugees are telling Vlad."

            "That's what I told you he was probably doing." Danny remarked under his breath, helping Sam with another boulder.

            "Remember, this is Valerie we're dealing with." Sam whispered to her friend. "Obsessive, really hates certain ghosts, remember?"

            "Like I could forget?"

            The digging resumed, a slow melancholy settling over the group. They had no real way to be certain the last gem was in the prison; records regarding the inmate the Guys in White had interrogated were sketchy at best. If the final gem wasn't somewhere in the prison wreckage, the entire plan to use the Reality Gauntlet against Maghnus was useless.

            "Hey, I think I'm getting a reading on something!" Paulina announced over the beeping of the scanner.

            "Why does the scanner sound weird?" Tucker peered down at the device.

            "Yeah, it's made a sort of pinging noise for the other stuff, it's making more of a beeping like-" Valerie paused. "... a ghost radar?!"

            All activity paused for a moment as all hands dropped digging gear and went for portable radars and weapons. The radars had long since been calibrated to recognize the ghosts currently present, which meant that whatever was setting the equipment off wasn't a familiar acquaintance.

            "Why don't you come on out already, ghost?" Valerie spat, glaring at the expanse of rubble toward the area indicated by the radar blip. "It's not like we don't know you're here!"

            A thin, hissing laugh drifted over the group, a pile of debris shifting as something underneath began to move. "I think you've found something that belongs to _me_. Oh the irony, to have found the rest of it, only to have it stolen away at the most dramatically opportune moment! Ha ha!"

            "Why does that voice sound familiar?" Sam already had her thorn whip materialized and held at the ready.

            "I think it's the annoying laugh." Danny quipped.

            "Stay back, Valerie, whatever it is wants the gauntlet!" Paulina moved in front of the huntress, weapons ready.

            "Yeah, whatever it is, it's taking this stupid thing over my dead body!" Valerie retorted, her own weapons in hand and lined up on the shifting debris.

            The taunting voice dropped to a lower octave as a concrete slab abruptly flipped over, forced aside by the ghost manifesting itself. "Little girl, that _can_ be arranged."

            A billowing black coat and top hat only served to make the ghost's slug-white features seem even paler. Beady glowing red eyes leered over a nose that seemed tacked on as an afterthought to the ghost's face. What would have been a sharp dress shirt and vest beneath the coat instead resembled a blackened, scowling fanged face, woven teeth cradling a brightly gleaming red gemstone pulsing with light like some grotesque imitation of a heartbeat.

            The gathered group and the ghost stared at one another for a long moment before recognition dawned on several faces.

            "Freakshow?!"

\---

            "A portal!" The Observants quickly dove through the vortex, wanting to get as far from Maghnus as possible.

            "Another gateway that links my realm to that of mankind?" The tyrant very nearly purred the question. "Excellent, a beachhead into that ancient territory!"

            "I don't think so!" Dan inhaled deeply.

            The fire-headed ghost had to act quickly. The very thing he had been trying to prevent had been caused by his own carelessness; one of the portals to the real world had been found. Something had to be done, and quickly, otherwise Maghnus would go right through and it would be all over.

            "And what can one pathetic ghost such as you do to stop-" Maghnus was cut short by the ghastly cacophony of Dan's full-powered Ghostly Wail, the sonic attack driving the horned ghost's hands to his ears and making him back a few dozen feet up from the force of it.

            "More than you think." Dan snarled, turning and diving through the portal.

            The Observants were arguing in the middle of Vlad's lab when he touched down. Their debate died as they saw him stalking forward, anger plastered on the fire-headed ghost's face.

            "What do you intend-"

            The query was cut off by a flurry of fist-sized green blasts Dan lobbed at the portal and the equipment surrounding it. Miniature explosions tore up the portal's framework, annihilating the machinery that maintained the whirling vortex. With a dying sputter the green portal winked out, leaving a yawning dark space showing only the stone walls of the lab in the broken gateway.

            "Not the nicest way to solve the problem." Dan dusted his hands off, surveying his handiwork. "But it's well documented that 'nice' isn't how I work."

            The two Observants exchanged worried looks. They were stranded and dependant on Dan's mercy to get back to the Ghost Zone; unless they made the trek to Amity Park to throw themselves on the mercy of the Patrol there. Neither option was particularly attractive.

            "I... see." One of the two finally spoke up. "What do you intend to do now?"

            Dan paced in thought, one hand carelessly rubbing his chin. "Simple. Keep attacking Maghnus' outposts."

            "But, what about Maghnus? What if you encounter him again?" The other Observant sputtered out in surprise.

            Dan turned, scowling at the one-eyed ghosts. "My plan is to keep him distracted until the others find that stupid Reality Gauntlet. If I run into him again, I keep him busy. Is that too much for you glorified eyeballs to grasp?"

            The Observants exchanged concerned glances again before sighing in unison. "Very well. There are still plenty of outposts and other targets you haven't gotten to yet."

            "Excellent, then let's get to it. I haven't got all day."

\---

            "What the heck are _you_ doing here?" Danny growled, dropping into a combat stance.

            "Is that-?" The ghost leered down at Danny. "It _is_ you! It's all your fault I wound up here, ghost boy!"

            "My fault you what-?"

            "The Guys in White had Freakshow moved to this prison to interrogate him about the Gauntlet." The former GiW agent sheepishly reminded Danny, also aiming his weapon at the freakish ghost. "I guess he got killed when Phantom blew up the building."

            "But I'm not bitter, there are definite... perks..." Freakshow raised clawed hands menacingly. "Such as taking revenge on you!"

            "Whoa!" Danny dove out of the way, the deranged ringleader barely missing him.

            "Oh no you don't, freak!" Tucker bellowed, lunging forward and bringing his spiked tail to bear in a whipcrack that sent Freakshow flying with a startled yelp.

            The impact startled the freakish ghost more than it seemed to injure him, the gem embedded in his midsection glowing all the brighter for the abuse. "Come now, that wasn't very dramatic!"

            "Drama this!" Sam joined the attack, catching Freakshow's arms and pinning them to his sides.

            "Oh, I do _love_ escape tricks!" The ghost giggled madly, the vine whip falling away, neatly sliced in a dozen places.

            "Open fire!" Valerie ordered, immediately raising a firestorm of anti-ghost weaponry directed at the former circus ringmaster.

            Remarkably, the shots seems to slide off the ghost, doing minimal damage. Somehow, it seemed as though the red gem was protecting Freakshow against the worst of the onslaught.

            "That's it! Now _this_ is suitably dramatic action before I strike you all down! Ha!" Freakshow cackled, lashing out with a hand that suddenly shifted into a large scythe.

            "It's no good!" Danny called over the roaring of ecto-weapons. "It's just sliding off him!"

            "Oh, and a door prize to the ghost boy!" Freakshow remarked dryly, forming a door-shaped ectoplasmic burst that he sent flying at Danny.

            The bludgeoning attack was intercepted by Tucker's horn-crested head, the presently draconic geek countering with a blast of fire that only seemed to slide off Freakshow like oil on water.

            Valerie hung back, studying the mess of attack and counter, defense and parry. That gem Freakshow was carrying seemed to glow and flash brighter whenever an attack struck the ghost. A quick glance at the gem and at the gauntlet on her arm confirmed her suspicions: Freakshow was using the Reality Gauntlet's power source to bolster his own defenses.

            It gave the huntress an idea.

            "Paulina, cover me!" Valerie snagged Paulina and whispered the order.

            Valerie holstered her weapons and recalled her jet sled, using the piled rubble as cover and skirting around the outer edge of the skirmish. Paulina laid down covering fire, drawing the ghost's attention to the Patrol and away from Valerie and the Reality Gauntlet. The huntress took up position behind Freakshow, the gem's location fixed in her head as she stealthily closed the remaining distance.

            Paulina was watching, and as soon as she saw Valerie was in position she shouted a new order; this one directed not at the Patrol, but at the two dragons participating in the skirmish.

            "Grab him!"

            "Wait, what?" Tucker glanced in confusion at the former cheerleader.

            "Just do it!" Dora surged forward, a tidal wave of blue and green scales.

            Freakshow gave a girlish shriek as he tried to back away from the wall of teeth and claws bearing down on him, but Dora caught his arms in her claws. Her tail snaked around and coiled around his legs, effectively tying him down.

            "What idiocy is this? Do you really think that's going to work-?"

            "No, but this will!" Valerie shouted, leaping from her hiding place, striking out with the clawed fingertips of the Reality Gauntlet aimed squarely at the ghost's back.

            "Is it now?" Freakshow purred, turning intangible and about to slip out of Dora's entrapment.

            Valerie's only answer was a smirk as her armored hand plunged through the space the intangible ghost was occupying until her grip found the one thing that wasn't intangible. She closed her hand on it, her forward momentum taking the huntress into a controlled tumble past Freakshow and beneath Dora's front legs.

            Freakshow gave another high pitched shriek, sputtering angrily as he pulled himself clear of Dora's grip. "Why you-!"

            "Not so tough without this, are you spook?" Valerie climbed to her feet, flashing her prize.

            The power gem gleamed in the sunlight as she slapped it into its place on the Gauntlet, the golden device reflecting the multicolored light as each of the gems began to glow with its own light.

            "Give it back!" Freakshow snarled, lunging at Valerie.

            "How about not?" Valerie grinned, aiming the gauntlet at the charging ghost. Yellow energy collected in her open palm, and Freakshow slammed face-first into a concrete wall that materialized out of the rubble.

            "Valerie, should we finish him off now that you got the gem from him?" Paulina asked, pointing her weapon at the ghost's bald head.

            The huntress contemplated the gauntlet for a moment. "Freakshow was put in jail for a string of robberies and stuff awhile ago, wasn't he?"

            "Yeah, he was using ghosts to do his dirty work." Danny remarked with an annoyed tone, recalling his part in that mess all too well.

            Freakshow was about to get up and resume trying to attack, but wisely froze when the sound of fully half a dozen ecto weapons locked onto him.

            Valerie studied the pinned spook. Without the power gem, the ghost's strength was clearly lackluster; he was completely vulnerable. It would be better to finish him off so that he wouldn't be a threat to anybody again. For some reason though, the idea didn't sit well with her; Freakshow was utterly vulnerable and at her mercy now that she had the gauntlet.

            "What was his prison sentence?" Valerie asked suddenly, earning confused looks from everyone present.

            "Fifty years." The former GiW agent replied. "He'd barely begun to serve his sentence when the prison was destroyed."

            "Did he now?" Valerie shifted her attention to the gauntlet, tapping the gems in the sequence Vlad had told her to unlock the device's full power. "I think I've got a better idea. He wasn't sentenced to capital punishment back then."

            So it was an excuse to give the gauntlet a test run, but the idea of finishing the former ringmaster off when he was in no position to defend himself didn't sit right with the huntress; not after her 'discussion' with Dan a few days prior.

            "A better idea?" Sam asked, one eyebrow raised.

            "Yeah." Valerie aimed the gauntlet again at Freakshow, a golden beam leaping from the device toward the pinned ghost. "How about he serves the rest of his sentence?"

            "Aiee!" Freakshow shrieked as the beam hit him, lifting him into the air for a moment before dropping him unceremoniously back to the ground. "What... what did you _do_ , girl?!"

            Valerie smirked as she surveyed her handiwork. "Wow, it worked. From ghost to human with hardly a thought! Alright guys, take 'im away!"

            Freakshow sputtered indignantly, searching hands quickly proving Valerie's statement right; she'd used the Reality Gauntlet to completely cancel his ghostly status, stripping what power he'd had. He tried to flee on foot, but unused to the effects of gravity, the ringmaster stumbled on the debris and was easily apprehended by the Patrol members, including one particularly pleased former member of the Guys in White.

            "Whoa, that was.... either really cool, or really creepy." Danny admitted.

            "No kidding." Valerie agreed, studying the gauntlet on her arm. "And with this, we can take care of that Maghnus creep! C'mon, let's get back to headquarters and get the freak here delivered to lockup! We've got a tyrant to take down!"

            _And maybe somebody_ else _to take care of while we're at it._

            Valerie's wristband communicator buzzed, breaking her momentary reverie. Glancing at it, she raised her arm and answered the call. "Valerie here. What's up?"

            Vlad's face on the tiny screen was strained, it almost looked like he had smudges of soot marring his usually impeccable business suit. His white hair was dusted with black and disheveled, and it looked as though he'd been roughed up if the bandaid on his forehead and the uncovered scratches were any indication.

            "What happened?" The huntress' tone turned frigid.

            "That's a very good question, young lady." Even looking like he'd been in a brawl, the billionaire's tone of voice was as measured as always. "Something must be happening in the Ghost Zone, because something came through your portal."

            "Cut to the chase, Masters. What happened?"

            Vlad sighed briefly, straightening his rumpled tie before answering.

            "'What happened' is simple." The billionare began, pausing to brush some soot and dust from his hair.

            "And?"

            "In short, your Ghost Portal just exploded."


	21. Alliance

**Alliance**  
"You came here to avenge his death.  
You came here to save mankind.  
You see now, you cannot do both."  
_-"The Stand (Man Or Machine)" - The Protomen_

"It what?!"

            "Some sort of energy ball came through the portal." Vlad elaborated slowly. "And it struck the sides of the gate as well as the ectoplasmic filter and the power regulator. It effectively resulted in the portal exploding. Thankfully the blast walls contained the explosion and the rest of the building is unharmed."

            "Without the portal, how are we going to get to the Ghost Zone to use the gauntlet against Maghnus?" Tucker squeaked, shifting back to human form to better participate in the conversation.

            "That's not the issue. It's a short flight by luxury jet to my lab, and _my_ portal." The billionaire pointed out.

            "Then I guess we better get back to headquarters and get packed." Valerie nodded, looking speculatively at the gauntlet she was wearing.

            She hadn't really expected to be able to turn the dead ringmaster Freakshow from a ghost to a living, breathing human again. It was one thing to read stories about items of unbelievable power; it was quite another to experience it first-hand. Possibilities, bright and hopeful now dangled at the back of the huntress' mind, and remarkably few of them had to do with Dan. A decade's worth of destruction could be undone with literally a wave of the hand. The empty miles of broken ruins could be restored with a thought, or the debris swept away to leave the land a pristine wilderness.

            She could make it up to Danny, and give him the chance at life that her idiocy a decade ago had denied him.

            _That's gotta wait until after Maghnus is taken care of though._ Valerie shoved the pleasant daydreams aside as she helped drag a protesting Freakshow aboard a jet sled for the trip back to headquarters. If there was one thing she'd learned over the past decade, it was that daydreaming could be dangerous. You couldn't afford to get your hopes up too high, because invariably it would come crashing down, torn to pieces by the unforgiving reality of the present. Right now, that reality was Maghnus; even with the Reality Gauntlet, if that old book was right the battle would be difficult and by no means a certain thing.

            _Then again, neither was fighting_ him _, and the odds never stopped me before!_

\---

            "How dare you attempt to keep me from that which is mine by right!" Maghnus bellowed, his spiked mace passing close enough that Dan's firey hair was whipped wildly by the wind of its passing.

            "That's two for two." Dan sneered, moving to put more distance between himself and Maghnus. "No more portals to the real world for you to use now!"

            The chase evoked distant memories of being on the run, being hunted by those who at the time were stronger than he was. If Maghnus wasn't furious yet, the tyrant was pretty close to it after blundering across the Ghost Patrol's portal while hunting for Dan. It was only the quick information network of the Observants that had enabled him to reach the portal and take it offline before Maghnus could go through it to wreck havoc in the human world.

            A silver colored bolt shot toward Dan from behind; he ducked and tumbled out of the way, the reality-twisting beam taking a chunk of out his cape as it passed. _Well, I certainly have his attention **now**._ He groused to himself.

            "Too slow to catch me, fossil!" The fire-headed ghost taunted with a sneer. _Or rather, too single-minded to._

            As Dan fled, he was able to dodge attacks launched at his unguarded rear surprisingly well; but then he had something far better than a rear-view mirror. Maghnus hadn't seen the duplicate that was now invisibly tailing the chase from above and slightly behind; giving Dan an excellent vantage from which to plan his evasions. Even with that slight edge, the ghost was kept busy by the flurry of beams and attacks coming from behind.

            _I need enough of a lead on this guy to get out of here._ Dan risked a glance over his shoulder, only to find that he wasn't gaining any ground on the tyrant. Maghnus thankfully wasn't closing the distance, but that was simply a matter of endurance. While Dan was confident he could maintain his top flight speed for several hours at a stretch, he suspected Maghnus could keep that pace just as long, perhaps longer.

            The chase careened wildly through the Ghost Zone, those unlucky enough to be nearby scattering as quickly as possible rather than risk getting caught in the crossfire; or worse yet, attracting the attention of either of the two ghosts. The effort to scatter was a waste at best: Dan was focused on saving his own hide; and Maghnus ws focused on Dan to the exclusion of everything else. Dan supposedly knew the whereabouts of the other gauntlet, and the tyrant wasn't going to let what he wanted get away.

            A rippling flash of green caught Dan's eye, it took less than a second to recognize it as some sort of naturally occurring gateway in the Ghost Zone; he could see a purple-tinged cave beyond the small tear. The gap was wavering and shrinking; it would close and vanish in moments.

            "Looks like I get away again!" Dan taunted, squeezing every last ounce of speed he could muster to dive through the gateway; Maghnus' shouts and the flurry of attacks ceased as the gateway winked out of existence a moment later.

            Dan's relief was short lived, however; before he could get his bearings, something pounced him from behind, putting long green claws to his throat, snarling.

            "Kion vi faras ĉie?!"

\---

            "Before we go, I think we should consider evacuating the city." Paulina mused aloud while packing her gear for the trip.

            "The city?" Valerie raised an eyebrow. "We do that, it'll be instant panic, you know that."

            "While it is true that you've been able to keep the full scope of what's going on from the general public, it would downright irresponsible to keep them in the dark now." Vlad pointed out. "After all, we're preparing to effectively wage war on a ghostly tyrant out of legend itself."

            "Vlad's got a point, Val." Tucker nodded agreement, fussing with his PDA. "We don't know if we can even win. What happens if we lose and that guy comes here?"

            "We can't _think_ about losing." Valerie retorted with some heat. "If we lose, that guy is going to try and destroy everything anyway!"

            "Yeah, but if people have warning, maybe someone can come up with some other way to beat that Maghnus jerk." Paulina countered. "In case we don't pull it off."

            "I guess you've got a point." Valerie relented. "You want to stay here and manage that while the rest of us get to Vlad's lab and start hashing out a battle plan?"

            The former cheerleader nodded. "I'll catch up. Just don't do anything reckless, okay?"

            "You got it!"

            Valerie stuffed the rest of her gear into her pack, and without further discussion, the group filed downstairs. It would be a short flight from Patrol HQ to the airstrip where Vlad's jet was waiting; the trip was taken mostly in silence with everyone lost in their own thoughts.

            _Winning is going to be a pretty big 'if', judging from the stuff in that old ghost book._ The huntress mused, running a finger idly along the hard metal contours of the Reality Gauntlet. _The ghost king was barely on even ground with this guy, and that was with this thing, that stupid ring, and that crown thing. All we've got is the gauntlet._

            Her expression soured as she considered that.

            _And_ he _has the crown and the ring. I don't want to work with him, not if we can find some other way._

\---

            "Let me go!" Dan snarled, grabbing one fur-covered arm and hurling whoever ambushed him away by main strength.

            "Kial vi-!" His attacker yelped, twisting midair to land crouched on all fours, visibly bristling.

            It took Dan a moment to recognize the mass of black fur and scars wearing a ragged ecto-green hoodie. "Wulf?!"

            "Kial vi reven tie ĉVi perfidita ĉ! Vi estas..." Wulf growled in response, flexing his long claws with barely restrained anger. "Enemy!"

            "Oh great, another blast from the past with a score to settle." Dan groaned, not feeling particularly threatened. "Can we take a rain check on the revenge deal?"

            Wulf's only response was a wordless growl, the canine ghost's hackles standing on end and making him seem even more massive.

            "Seriously..." Dan backed a few steps away, not particularly wanting to get into a fight. "I've got a tyrant to make toast out of, or did you miss the memo?"

            "Mi ne prizorg iuj nova fantomo reĝ." Wulf snarled, with a dismissive gesture. "Vi perfidita nian amikecon!"

            _I suppose asking him to quit with the crazy moonspeak and talk in a legible language would be too much to ask for._ Dan complained to himself.

            "Look, I can't understand a word you're blathering." He crossed his arms, scowling at the canine. "So let's play twenty questions before you try to disembowel me, all right? You've heard about Maghnus?"

            "Jes." Wulf growled, nodding once, not relaxing at all from his ready-to-pounce stance. "Mi helpos la ceteran pritrakt li post _vi_ estas mortigita."

            "Okay, I think I caught a 'yes.' Do you know what, exactly, he's _capable_ of?" Dan quirked an eyebrow. He didn't much care for Wulf, and really wouldn't have objected to vaporizing the overgrown mutt except he _did_ have more pressing matters to attend to that required his full power.

            "Mi ne..." Wulf looked doubtful for a moment. "Kaj ŝe _VI_ faras?"

            Dan didn't need to understand the words, Wulf's tone was blatantly clear. "Well, _I_ do. I was just fighting him, and it's not the first time either. You remember what _I_ am capable of, I'm sure."

            "Vi mortpikis _vin_ estas kapabl en mia **legitim** , perfidulo!" Wulf snarled, gesturing to a particular burn hole in his hoodie; undoubtedly the spot Dan had shot him with an ecto beam years ago.

            "Well, then take _that_ and multiply it by at least a hundred." Dan sneered. "I went head to head with him once already, and even _I_ barely escaped in one piece."

            _That_ seemed to seriously give the canine reason to pause.

            "Kion vi diris?!" He yelped, finally getting back up on two legs instead of four in surprise.

            "Jes." Dan retorted mockingly. "Which is why I don't have time to deal with your old vendetta. Because somebody has to stall that tyrant until that _idiot_ Valerie can find a weapon to finish him with."

            "Ne insulto mia amiko!" Wulf growled, apparently taking offense to Dan insulting the huntress.

            "Oh, whatever. I've got more pressing business to deal with. If you want to be useful, round up the other ghosts and take them to... I dunno, Vlad's or something. You and I are the only reliable ways out of the Ghost Zone right now. And _I'm_ busy."

            " Kion vi faras?!" Wulf lunged, grabbing the front of Dan's jumpsuit and forcing the shorter ghost to look him in the face. "What you do?"

            "Oh, so you _do_ speak some English." Dan noted with some exasperation. "I'll keep it to small words for your little doggy brain to grasp. I am fighting _against_ Maghnus, and don't have the time to waste on killing you. Are we clear?"

            "Vi estas don _helpo_ al iu alia? **VI**?" Wulf's expression read pure disbelief.

            "Assuming you said what I _think_ you just said, yes. I'm _helping_ someone else, in my own **special** destructive way. Now, will you let go so I can get back to my business?" Dan sounded primarily bored. "If you _really_ want me to kill you and finish what I started a few years ago, you can wait in line like everybody else."

            "....Mi ne fido vi, perfidulo." Wulf snarled, reluctantly releasing his grip on Dan's suit and turning to stalk away. "Sed la malamiko de mia malamiko estas mia amiko, intertempe."

            "I'll just pretend to understand that." Dan remarked dryly, opening a portal. "Later, furball."

            If the canine had a retort, it went unheard as Dan hopped through his portal, pausing briefly in the real world to survey Amity Park from the air. The city seemed like a kicked beehive of activity, a steady flow of vehicles and people moving _away_ from the city center, and a faint murmur of thinly controlled fear audible even at his altitude..

            _What is Valerie up to now?_ Dan quirked an eyebrow. _An evacuation?_

            Well, that made some sense. He'd managed to destroy their ghost portal, without anyone on the other side knowing what was going on. The rebuilt city sat like a giant target in the middle of the wastelands; getting the non-combatants out of the possible danger zone probably seemed a splendid idea.

            _Wait.... would they be doing a full scale evacuation just over the portal blowing up?_ Dan studied the activity below more closely. _Gah, as much as I don't want to, I need to find someone and ask what the heck has been happening since I took off._

            With an annoyed sigh, Dan turned invisible and dove down toward the city streets below, angling for the Ghost Patrol building. That seemed to be the most likely place to find someone that knew what was going on with the situation. It was sorely tempting to turn visible skimming inches above the fleeing crowds; surely his abrupt appearance would set off a _real_ panic and turn the somewhat orderly stream of people and cars into a mass of chaos and confusion. People could even get trampled in their panic to get away from him.

            _A shame that I have more important things to do than enjoy some leisure time right now. Maybe once this is over with..._

            He'd given the matter considerable thought while he'd been distracting Maghnus in the Ghost Zone and tuning out most of the Observants' chatter. He'd _tried_ to be civil, to behave within some sort of socially acceptable boundary. And for _what_? Seething hatred and open hostilities? Dan was beginning to doubt whether the effort was really worth it, and that just maybe sliding back into old habits was really the way to go. On the one hand, he'd made _some_ progress. Tucker and Dora could both be civil around him, and not act too fearful about his moods. He had something not entirely unlike an awkward friendship with Vlad. Sam had even become somewhat coldly civil, even if he'd caught the goth ghost giving him cutting stares when she thought he couldn't see it.

            He had no idea where things stood with Danny, with his weakness; the ghost of the teen had every reason to be the most afraid, yet he seemed to be the most accepting, maybe even forgiving of Dan. It made no sense; Dan could recall that murder with piercing clarity. Perhaps the single most brutal killing he'd committed out of a decade of atrocities, and likely the only one he was anywhere remotely close to be forgiven for.

            On the other hand, there was Valerie.

            Stubborn, mulish, unrelenting, unreasonable, irrational Valerie. The huntress had every reason to hate him, but would it have killed her to at least accept her share of the blame? Would setting aside the vendetta long enough to deal with a _real_ problem be that unbearable? Dan didn't care about getting _her_ forgiveness; and he wouldn't have accepted it had it been offered; if anything _she_ should have been the one seeking _his_ forgiveness for what she caused. Things really would be just that much easier if he'd managed to knock her off sometime in the past ten years; to try and do so now would probably undo all the ground he'd gained with the others, they would certainly try to stop him if he did try and finish Valerie off.

            But was that fledgling acceptance worth the humiliation of putting up with the woman? He couldn't just ignore her; she was friends with the others, and thus part of the package deal; barbed tongue and all. He was a loner, he'd gone without friendly company for ten years and loneliness had never bothered him. He didn't need _friends_ , great big glaring weaknesses for an enemy to target... did he?

            _And if Jazz could see you right now, I'm sure she would have some psychobabble about this entire mess._ Dan snorted to himself. _Maybe with some ecto-babble about ghostly obsession thrown in for good measure-_...

            Maybe _that_ was what kept driving him to try and destroy the city for the past decade. Doing so invariably brought Valerie out, they would encounter one another, and they would fight. Either he would be driven off, or he would drive her into hiding. In between, he'd always focused on how he would finish her off; he'd mentally concocted some truly atrocious scenarios that would have made Danny's murder seem positively tame in comparison.

            It was almost as if he'd fashioned his entire existence around her. In hindsight, it was a rather disgusting situation; all the worse knowing that the reverse was probably true. Valerie had dedicated the past ten years of her life to trying to destroy him, always under the guise of avenging Danny, or her father, or any of the thousands of people he'd killed.

            Dan was abruptly interrupted from his train of thought when he finally spotted a familiar face taking off from the upper floors of the patrol building. It only took a moment for the invisible ghost to come alongside Paulina's jet sled, turning visible before her ghost radar could sound the alarm.

            "Finally, someone who should know what's going on."

            Paulina shrieked in surprise at Dan's unexpected appearance not six feet away, and nearly lost her balance. Several seconds of windmilling her arms in a comedic manner, and she steadied her jet sled.

            "When did you get back? And don't sneak up on people like that!" The ex-cheerleader scolded, apparently masking her initial jolt of fear with annoyance.

            "Well if you would rather, I could have strolled right up to the front gates of your little patrol headquarters." Dan sneered in response. "I'm _sure_ Random Joe Public down there would have _loved_ that."

            Paulina had the decency to look somewhat abashed at that. "Okay, point taken. What do you want? Valerie and the others are already on their way to Vlad's!"

            ".... They're what?"

            "We found the Reality Gauntlet, and our portal blew up, so we have to use Vlad's to get to that Maghnus guy." The former cheerleader explained slowly, as if she were explaining to an idiot.

            "I know about your portal, I'm the one that destroyed it. Maghnus blundered on it." Dan stated dryly. "So Valerie plans to go toe to toe with the tyrant du jour, does she?"

            "Would you cut to the chase already?"

            "Sure. What's with the evacuation?" Dan smirked, amused at Paulina's alternating unease and annoyance at his presence.

            "In case something happens, duh." She shot back, as though the conclusion ought to be obvious. "I'm on my way to meet up with the others right now."

            "What lovely timing." Dan chuckled. "I'm just _dying_ to see how she plans to pull this off. I'm taking a shortcut."

            That stopped Paulina in her tracks. "Shortcut? It's a few hours flying to Wisconsin!"

            "Mmhm, yes, it is." Dan replied absently, forming another one of his portals. "But only a few minutes by way of the Ghost Zone. Care to tag along?"

            Paulina looked doubtfully between him and the temporary portal, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "Ech, I'll take the scenic route, thanks."

            "Suit yourself." Dan ducked through the portal. _Another one with an axe to grind. At least she's a little more reasonable to have to deal with. I wonder if I should have mentioned that Vlad's portal was the first one to get fried?_

            Dan flew on through the purple murk of the Ghost Zone, alert for attack as he considered that.

            _Nah._

\---

            "Hey, Danny?" Valerie snagged the slender ghost by the back of his shirt as the group exited the jet that had brought them to Vlad's personal airstrip. "Could I talk to you for a minute?"

            "Ur... sure. Something wrong?" Danny paused, the rest of the group passing him and the huntress by.

            "Well, I've been thinking about something since we found this thing." Valerie fidgeted with the Reality Gauntlet for a moment. "And well... you saw what it could do... what it _did_... to Freakshow, I mean."

            "Yeah, that was pretty impressive." The ghost replied, apparently missing what the huntress was getting at entirely.

            "I was thinking, when this is all over and this Maghnus guy is toast... that..." Valerie stumbled over her words.

            Danny's expression turned from confused to a thoughtful frown. "That?"

            "Well... I could use it to... I mean, for... you and Sam... and I guess Tucker-" She mentally kicked herself for stuttering over her idea. _Geez, can't you just say you want to make it up to him since you got him killed?_

            "You mean use the Gauntlet on us." Danny guessed. "Like what you did to Freakshow."

            "Well... yeah." Valerie cringed a little, the ghost's tone wasn't _quite_ disapproving. "Y'know, a second chance and all that-"

            "Val, it's okay." Danny cracked a slight grin. "I appreciate the thought, but... I don't think that's the right thing to do with it."

            "But you guys... after all that, you don't want a second chance at... at... well, life?!" Valerie stood seemingly dumbfounded.

            "To do... what?" Danny countered. "We don't even have an empty house to go back to."

            "What, you think I'd leave you out to dry?" Valerie started to retort.

            "But you can't bring the _others_ back, they never became ghosts. And you can't make something from nothing." Danny cut her off softly. "And it'd be wrong for us to freeload anyway. I never finished high school, let alone college; how would we pull our own weight?"

            "But-"

            "It's okay, Val. I appreciate it, really. But times have changed, and we've moved on. Sam and I are happy together, with the way things are now. And Tuck's really done well for himself since then; I mean come on, he's a _king_. I doubt he'd want to give that... or his wife... up for a second shot at being human."

            Valerie deflated with a sigh. "I guess it's a dumb idea, huh?"

            "It's really a nice idea, but.... I dunno, doesn't it just feel wrong to try to reset everything to how it used to be? Besides, it's probably better to destroy all of these Ascendancy things after Maghnus is taken care of. They're just dangerous."

            "All of it...." Valerie murmured more to herself than to the ghost. "That's probably a good idea."

            Further conversation was abruptly cut off by a loud shout from the mansion, audible despite the distance and walls.

            "Chocolate fondue! MY PORTAL!"

            That set the both of them running, or flying rather, since Valerie jumped on her sled and Danny selectively ignored gravity. In seconds they'd both rejoined the group in Vlad's lab, all standing around in some state of shock.

            The portal, much like the one at the Ghost Patrol's headquarters, was little more than a slagged, useless framework.

            "What, this one's fried too?" Sam groused to no one in particular.

            "This is bad... how are we gonna even _get_ to the Ghost Zone now?!" Tucker lamented.

            "Hey, no time to start panicking. Vlad can just build a new one, right?" Valerie asked.

            "Yes... I could." The billionaire rolled his eyes, tone condescending.  "If-"

            "So is this little party open to anybody or is it invite only?" A new, snide voice interrupted.

            Dan stepped from behind the slagged portal frame with a smug expression on his face. "Hello, Valerie."

            "You!" The huntress snarled, going for her weapons. "You did this, didn't you?!"

            "Not inside the house, please." Vlad commented with some exasperation. "I just had the carpets cleaned."

            "Mm... yes, I did. And not even a thank you for my hard work." Dan retorted, ignoring Vlad's attempt at brevity.

            "And what should we _thank_ **you** for?" Sam glared at the tall spook.

            "For protecting you idiots." Dan idly brushed some imagined dust from one sleeve of his jumpsuit. "If I hadn't destroyed the portals when Maghnus located them, I imagine you wouldn't have had the time to find that shiny new toy that you're pointing at me."

            "Don't cross me, ghost." Valerie warned, Reality Gauntlet aimed square at Dan.

            "Tsk, tsk, is that any way to talk to your only ticket to the Ghost Zone?" Dan wagged a finger in a mock-scolding manner.

            "Look, guys, now _really_ isn't the time for this." Tucker planted himself between the fire-headed ghost and the bristling huntress. "We need to stop Maghnus first, remember?"

            "And Val..." Danny laid a hand on her armored arm, gently making Valerie lower the weapon. "We're gonna need his help. We can't get to the Ghost Zone without him now."

            "Over my dead body!" Valerie countered. "Who says I can't just create a portal with the Reality Gauntlet?"

            "Oh, please, do try." Dan smirked, grabbing a nearby swivel chair and seating himself. "I'd like to see just what this fabled last bit of the Ascendancy can do."

            "Changing the subject..." Vlad interrupted, surveying Dan's somewhat battered state. "I don't suppose you care to tell us just what mischief you've been getting into?"

            "Nothing much. But it seems destroying a few dozen military outposts and supply bases is a good way to get a tyrant just a little peeved. I figured it would keep the tyrant du jour occupied for awhile." Dan explained idly, watching Valerie trying to make the Reality Gauntlet do something.

            "Why isn't it working?!"

            "Ah, yes. Valerie, the Reality Gauntlet is a tool of _creation_ , is it not?" Vlad raised an eyebrow.

            "Yeah, so why can't I use it to create a portal?" The huntress complained.

            "Ghost portals don't work that way, I'm afraid." Vlad explained, tapping his cane against the broken framework of his portal. "It isn't a matter of creating a portal; but rather a matter of _destroying_ a portion of the dimensional barrier between this world and the Ghost Zone."

            "Well we still don't need _his_ help! Can't you build a new portal, Vlad?" Valerie inquired, trying to ignore Dan's bemused chuckling.

            "Well, I could, if I had several months to work on it-" Vlad began.

            A thundercrack rumble split the air, the sound crystal clear and sharp despite the group being underground. Unlike a real peal of thunder, the sound was sharp and swift, a single _crack!_ and then silence, rather than the long low rumble of real thunder heard muffled by ground and distance.

            "Several months, I fear, that we don't have."


	22. The Last Journey Home

**The Last Journey Home**  
"In time, we'll see the past unwind  
Alive, still wandering our fallen land  
One more time we stare into the blackened sky  
For tonight, in our hearts now we feel  
One last time, see our destiny revealed..."  
_-"The Last Journey Home" - Dragonforce_

            "What was that?" Sam stared at the ceiling as though she could discern what the noise was if she stared holes in the reinforced panels.

            Dan's demeanor changed from snarky to a silent snarl, the tall ghost tensing. "I've got a good idea what it is and a bad feeling that I'm right."

            Even Valerie looked at him in surprise, anger momentarily forgotten. "Then spit it out, ghost!"

            Red eyes shut briefly in contemplation, the fire-headed ghost taking a steadying breath before speaking a single word.

            "Maghnus."

            Vlad was already tapping away at a console, fingers nimble across the keys despite his age. In moments, he had an image up on screen; the view from one of his security cameras showing a disjointed scene. The sun still glowed overhead, the yellow orb a seemingly brilliant, blinding eye in a sky gone incongruently dark. Fluffy white clouds drifted past bands of bright green wisps, and the occasional floating door or landmass. Despite the mansion's distance from the nearest town, the camera's audio still picked up the distant roar of panic on the wind.

            "Are.... are we in the Ghost Zone?!" Danny yelped.

            "... Somehow, I don't think that's quite the case, my boy." Vlad murmured darkly. "Unless something managed to pull the entire inner solar system into it. The Ghost Zone, if you'll recall, doesn't have sunlight."

            "Then what happened, Vlad? Cut to the chase already!" Valerie snapped at the billionaire.

            Vlad stood up and faced the huntress and the gathered group. "Recall what I just said about ghost portals, and destroying a _part_ of the dimensional barrier." He tapped his cane lightly against the screen. "If I were to hazard a guess, what we see here is what happens when the _entire_ barrier is destroyed."

            "In other words," Dan remarked acidly, "Maghnus found a way around that whole issue of needing a portal, and we're out of time to waste arguing over who did what a decade ago."

            He leveled a pointed look at Valerie, who glared back.

            "I am _not_ letting you have the Reality Gauntlet, ghost." She hissed.

            "I gathered as much." The fire-headed spook retorted. "And if history is any indicator, three quarters of the Ascendancy against Maghnus isn't enough to destroy him anyway."

            "Guys, we _really_ don't have time for this-" Tucker bemoaned. "We've gotta figure out a plan to take the guy down!"

            "...Much as I hate to cut _him_ any slack," Sam pointed offhandedly at Dan. "I'd rather have him on _our_ side in this one."

            "Seriously, Valerie, we're not asking you to give him the Gauntlet." Danny explained in a softer tone. "But we all need to cooperate, or we're _all_ toast."

            "Daniel is right, you know." Vlad chimed in. "With his brute strength and combat experience, and your wielding the Reality Gauntlet, we might have a chance to stop Maghnus. Without that, I fear Maghnus will simply destroy us all before you could bring the Gauntlet to bear against him."

            "So you want me to _protect_ her?" Dan raised one eyebrow, expression showing his displeasure at the notion.

            "Look, if it bugs you that much, don't think about it as protecting Valerie." Danny cut in. "Think of it as protecting everybody else... or... I dunno, as just taking Maghnus down?"

            "Pheh. Whatever. The enemy of my enemy and all that garbage." Dan grumbled, standing up and stalking over to Valerie, who took a step back instinctively.

            "If you try anything, ghost, I swear I'll-"

            "Give it a rest, would you? I haven't killed you _yet_." Dan snapped, extending one hand. "Much as I'd rather _not_... Truce?"

            Valerie stared at the proffered hand like it was some sort of poisonous snake, one eyebrow sneaking up her forehead incredulously. After a long moment of staring Dan in the eyes, trying to discern what he was trying to pull, she reluctantly accepted the shake.

            "Truce. For _now_." She growled. "Until Maghnus is out of the picture."

            "Now that we're all friends, we have things to prepare, and precious little time to prepare them in." Vlad noted dryly. "First of all, there seems to be quite a gathering of ghosts on my front lawn that needs to be addressed."

            "There's what?" All eyes, save for Dan's turned to stare at Vlad.

            "Huh, I guess Wulf took what I said literally." The tall ghost remarked offhandedly.

            The entire group left Vlad's underground lab, exiting the mansion to find that indeed, a very large gathering of ghosts was ambling around the manor grounds. From the anxious murmuring that created a dull buzz in the air, it was clear that the gathered ghosts were probably just as uneasy as anyone else. Angry muttering went up when Dan appeared.

            "So the rumors were true!" Skulker's voice boomed above the crowd, arm cannon already leveled at Dan. "He did come back!"

            "Oh goodie, first we have one psychopath, now we have two of them to deal with?" Technus groused from the power armor's torso.

            "Here to finish the job, punk?" Johnny snarled, his Shadow growling agreement.

            Dan slapped his forehead at the lukewarm welcome. Not that he had really expected anything less from the ghosts when his return finally became public knowledge, but the timing was pretty lousy.

            "If you so much as _touch_ one greasy hair on Johnny's head, I swear I'll-" Kitty hissed, one hand held up like the female ghost was ready to claw somebody's eyes out.

            "Guys! Guys, cool it!" Tucker cut in front of Dan, waving his hands in the air for attention.

            "Why should we?" Ember countered. "It's probably his fault we're in this mess anyway!"

            "She has a point, you know." Vlad quipped in a whisper. "Technically speaking, it _is_ his fault Maghnus is loose."

            "Shut up, old man." Dan snapped in an equally low voice.

            "And right now, we will need his help to get _out_ of this mess." Dora came up next to Tucker, one hand finding his, king and queen standing commandingly over the crowd.

            "Li diris al mi li estas batal kontraŭ Maghnus." Wulf pushed and shoved his way to the front of the crowd. "Ni bezonas la perfidulan helpon elpoenti, alie nin ĉj ..os esti mortigita!"

            "What the heck is the overgrown fleabag blabbing about?" Ember complained, wrinkling her nose as if the giant canine had an unpleasant odor.

            "I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT HE IS SAYING EITHER!" Box Ghost shouted from the back of the crowd, his toddler daughter sitting on his shoulders.

            Tucker rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Wulf says that we need Dan's help to stop Maghnus. Without it, we're all as good as gone."

            That set the crowd to murmuring in muted confusion and uncertainty as small knots of conversation erupted debating the information. Virtually everyone present had narrowly escaped Dan's wrath, and most had lost someone they considered a friend, or at least a close associate. In comparison, only a handful had encountered Maghnus, though most had run-ins with the tyrant's troops. They had all heard the story about the Mattingly-Foley estate being overrun.

            "And is putting up with another king of ghosts such a bad thing?" Skulker demanded. "Is serving a new ruler worse than... _cooperating_ with Phantom?"

            "Considering what the cursed one is responsible for... A new king may not be such a bad thing." A hulking yeti ghost declared, one frozen arm clearly indicating who he meant was _cursed_. Dan rolled his eyes at the declaration.

            "Actually, Skulker, Frostbite-" Tucker began, when Dan stepped forward and cut him off.

            "Let me put it in a way you can understand." The tall ghost sneered at the crowd. All the ghosts backed away from his approach. "Working with _me_ means everyone has a chance at surviving. Not working with me means you all die. Game over, fat lady sings, and so on."

            "And why should we believe _you_?" Ember demanded, brandishing her guitar.

            "According to a book of Ghost Zone history that Danny and Sam found, Maghnus plans to destroy everything with that gauntlet of his." Valerie stormed forward as well, ignoring Dan as she came up alongside him while holding the Reality Gauntlet high. "And if he can get his hands on _this_ , he's gonna destroy every single one of us so he can remake everything the exact way he wants it!"

            If anyone else had come forward with that information, it probably wouldn't have had such an impact on the mob's opinion. Everyone knew about the things Dan had done... and Valerie's intense, personal hatred for the fire-headed ghost was nigh legendary even in the Ghost Zone. It was commonly accepted knowledge that none of the ghosts had anything close to the claim for vengeance the huntress had. Aside from Danny, Sam, and Tucker, she had lost the most to the deranged rampages over the past decade. So for _her_ to step forward advocating cooperation with _him_ , however indirectly; for Valerie and Dan to be standing not a foot apart, without trying to rip one another to pieces.... that left an impression.

            "Indeed. And with Maghnus having found a way to the real world, I suspect he's already preparing his offensive. He wants the Reality Gauntlet, and he wants it very badly." Vlad chimed in. "I imagine it won't be all that long before his armies are on the march searching for it."

            "You imagine right." One of the Observants stated grimly. "According to our information network, Maghnus and his forces are mustering already. They may very well be on the march now. Unfortunately, our forces suffered badly in an attempt to stop Maghnus, so our information is no longer as complete as it once was."

            "So work with us, guys!" Tucker pleaded. "We'll need all the help we can get!"

            "What about _him_?" Technus complained. "What happens after we help you?"

            "Leave that for after we win." Valerie stated darkly. "There's a very good chance we won't survive long enough to worry about it anyway."

            "How uncharacteristically morbid of you, Valerie." Dan sneered at her, then shrugged. "Not that I can argue with it, after barely escaping Maghnus in one piece myself."

            "So is it settled then?" Vlad inquired.

            A general disgruntled murmur of agreement answered the query.

            "Okay then, let's get organized then. We've got an entire army to take down, not just a tyrant!" Tucker worked his way into the crowd, he and Dora working on sorting ghosts into groups according to their abilities.

            "Daniel, might I have a word with you?" Vlad beckoned Danny back inside the mansion.

            "Now what, fruit loop?" The shorter ghost quirked an eyebrow, following the old man inside, Sam following.

            "I wish you'd lose that bad habit of yours." The billionaire rolled his eyes. "It isn't as though we're still enemies."

            "Old habits die hard." Sam remarked dryly.

            "Precisely what I wished to address, actually." Vlad chuckled. "You don't intend to simply sit on the sidelines while your worse half is thick in the fray of battle, do you Daniel?"

            The black haired ghost blanched. "How'd you know?!"

            "And more importantly, what are you up to?" Sam leveled an accusatory stare at Vlad.

            "Daniel has the experience." Vlad began to explain. "He has gone against an opponent similar to Maghnus when he fought Pariah. He has the _skill_ , all he lacks now is the power, due to becoming a ghost from just the human half of a hybrid; effectively Daniel's potential power is at least half of what it would have been without the incident in my lab a decade ago."

            Danny and Sam exchanged confused glances. What was the old man getting at, other than stating the obvious? Vlad walked over to a shelf and flipped up a Packers helmet that was on display, pushing a button hidden beneath it. With a slight whirring noise, the wall panel slid aside, revealing a small hidden room, with an all-too-familiar piece of Fenton equipment stored inside.

            "Hey, that's-!" Danny yelped, recognizing the powered armor despite the fact it had clearly undergone considerable revisions and rebuilding.

            "Your father's Ecto-Skeleton, which I stole after your battle with Pariah." Vlad confessed. "I had been working to improve the design when... the accident... occurred, and it was all but entirely destroyed when my castle exploded. It's taken me quite some time to extract it from the ruins, but I was recently able to finish the repairs and upgrades."

            "And you're telling me all this now because-?" Danny prompted.

            "Consider it an inadequate attempt by an old man to atone for his crimes if you will, Daniel." Vlad gazed at the suit, cringing at some memory. "However misguided my actions were, I have always wanted the best for you. Right now, simply giving you a better chance at surviving this is all I can do. Your reduced strength means effective suicide going into battle with the opponents we face. With this, however..."

            "A hundred times my current power." Danny finished the statement. "What about the power drain problem?"

            "Did I not just say that I'd been upgrading it? Pay _attention_ , Daniel!" Vlad remarked with mild exasperation. "It took some doing to convince Technus to give me his old staff; working with Skulker, he hasn't needed it. The suit uses that as a power supply rather than tapping the pilot directly. It should in theory give you a much greater boost than the original version. Perhaps as much as two-hundredfold your unaided power."

            "Two hundred times?! That doesn't reek!" Danny yelped, surveying the suit with newfound admiration.

            Sam watched the exchange with a thoughtful expression. Something had always seemed not quite right with her friend after Danny had finally manifested as a ghost. Aside from his physical weakness, his moods had always seemed flat. He never quite came off as gloom and doom depressed, but his emotions always lacked a certain intensity he'd had when he was alive; almost as though his emotions were just a pale shadow or dim reflection of the real thing. She hadn't enough experience with Vlad before and after the disaster to be sure, but she suspected the billionaire was likewise not quite what he used to be. It made a certain sort of sense, both half-ghosts were now only half of what they had once been; now living as half-empty shells of what they used to be.

            That had changed in the past several weeks though. The change had been subtle; if she wasn't so close to Danny so much of the time Sam probably wouldn't have realized it. Ever since Phantom had returned from his jaunt and imprisonment in the past, Danny had been becoming more lively, his personality regaining some of its lost luster. It had been most apparent that first time they'd seen the fire-headed ghost when he blundered on their lair; her friend had been quiet about it, but the look in Danny's eyes when he stood his ground against the taller ghost had that same defiant determination she remembered so well from his days as the protector of Amity Park. It was almost as though the mere proximity of Danny's tainted other half was enough to put some of his old spunk back into him. Certainly Danny's personality had begun to shift from being extremely passive to active involvement in events.

            That led to other thoughts, a possibility that could be achieved using the Reality Gauntlet. Couldn't Phantom simply be broken back down into his component halves and restored to the originals? She frowned as she pondered it, while Vlad helped Danny get strapped in to the power suit. _He_ probably wouldn't want to be split after a decade of being... whatever he was; but could the fire-headed ghost DO anything about it if everyone else agreed?

            _He'd have to be caught off guard if at all._ Sam frowned. _Reality Gauntlet or not, we'd still have to be able to **hit** him to do anything._

            There were other reasons it was a bad idea as well. Danny seemed distraught enough over his worse half's actions over the past ten years, and that was only with the _knowledge_ of what had happened. Restoring the split ghost halves would probably include the memories of the past decade as well, and the goth didn't really want to imagine what horrors Dan had first-hand recollection of. She couldn't subject Danny to that sort of trauma with a clean conscience; given how much he blamed himself for Dan's actions already, to give him those direct memories of it as well would be pure cruelty, something she would never put her friend through. Heck, the trauma alone would probably drive him mad just like Dan had been during the rampages.

            "All set, Daniel?" Vlad stepped back as the suit powered up, Danny's head seemingly tiny in the bubble dome looming a good ten feet off the floor.

            "Looks like." The ghost confirmed, apparently glancing over a console Sam couldn't see from the ground, the suit's right arm giving a thumbs-up.

            The sight brought back memories that the goth would rather have forgotten; the panic from Pariah's invasion and siege of Amity Park. Tucker's worried expression after Danny had filched the armor from the Fentons' lab; her own fear for Danny's safety. That cold knot of anguish in her gut that she was watching her dear friend leave, and knowing that it was very likely he wouldn't return.

            This time, the stakes were even higher, but he wasn't rushing into the battle all alone.

\---

            Tucker looked at the unofficial leaders of the makeshift battle group, a single thought running through his head. _Why me?_

            Dan and Valerie were shooting dirty looks at one another at every available opportunity, which was making battle planning.... trying, to say the least. When they weren't glaring, they were bickering and sniping verbally over trivial details.

            "I am not putting myself in front of the meat grinder so you can relax and enjoy the show." Dan growled.

            "Well somebody's gotta keep him busy so we can get him with the Reality Gauntlet!" Valerie countered. "Isn't that the entire _point_ of the plan?"

            "Both of you, knock it off!" Tucker finally interjected over the squabbling.

            "You're both acting like spoiled young children." Dora admonished. "Or like an old married couple."

            Valerie looked horrified at the latter implication, while Dan recoiled in disgust. At least it shut them up for the moment. The silence was broken by the insistent beeping of Valerie's armband communicator. Raising an eyebrow, she shot Dan one last foul look before she answered the call.

            "Valerie h-"

            "Valerie!" Paulina shrieked on the other end, the Latina's face pale beneath her tan complexion, eyes wide in horror. "You guys need to come quick, it-it's terrible!"

            "What happened?" The huntress responded sternly, trying to ignore her own sinking feelings.

            "F-first everything went all weird like that time the town got pulled into the Ghost Zone-" Paulina stammered, the occasional hiccup indicating just how close Amity Park's unofficial mayor was to total panic. "A-and then... I was on my way to j-join you guys when... Valerie, it's terrible!"

            "Would you stop blathering like a frightened little rabbit and spit it out already?" Dan snapped, leaning over Valerie's shoulder to peer at the tiny communicator screen.

            "Personal space, jerk!" Valerie elbowed him back with a snarl. "Paulina, tell me. What's going on?"

            "I-I dunno. I couldn't see the city from my position, but then, I-i heard it-" Paulina paused to try and regain some modicum of vocal control. "Back toward th-the city and.... and there was just... I dunno what it was!"

            "Keep talking, Paulina." Valerie responded with all the forced calm she could muster, oblivious to Dan peering over her shoulder again.

            "It's.... there was this big.... black thing. Black and silver, like... almost like an explosion, and then all this wind and..." The Latina stammered. "Valerie, it's all gone! There's _nothing_ left!"

            "There's what?!" Dan and Valerie yelped in unison, too startled to bother glaring at one another.

            "I-I headed back after it cleared... ohmigod, Valerie, it's all gone. _Everything!_ " Paulina wailed. "There's ghosts swarming the area-"

            The Latina must have shifted her arm, the image on Valerie's screen changed, the view fuzzy from the distance; details were hard to make out save for the motion of countless green forms, one much taller in the distance than the rest of the mass.

            "That's him!" Dan snarled, fists clenched, about ready to launch into the air.

            "Hold on, now is hardly the time to abandon all reason and rush blindly in." Vlad caught the tattered ends of the ghost's cape. "That didn't accomplish all that much the first time you tried it, did it?"

            "Paulina, stay out of sight. Try to find any survivors and get them away from there. We're coming as fast as we can!" Valerie instructed in a tight voice. "Oh, he'll pay for this-!"

            The huntress whipped around, nearly smacking Dan in the face with the Gauntlet, and aimed the weapon at a clear area of ground. In a flash of golden light, some sort of aircraft appeared, the vehicle looking like something straight out of a science fiction film; a blunt-nosed, bulbous craft with some sort of  bays hanging off the sides, and a large set of thruster nodes hanging off the rear.

            "Wow, Valerie, it almost looks like a smaller version of the ship from _Battlespace Galactika_!" Tucker observed. "I didn't know you liked sci-fi shows like that."

            "Save it for later, we need to get to Amity Park, and we need to get there _fast_."

            The area surrounding Vlad's mansion turned into a mess of barely organized activity as ghosts boarded the transport and final preparations were made. Danny and Sam were among the last to board, the Ecto-Skeleton a tight fit in the already crowded ship.

            "We're counting on you." Vlad noted solemnly, the toddler Box Lunch sitting on the ground next to the billionaire. "My mansion may be safe from the battle for now, but if you fail..."

            "Right." Danny nodded. "We can't lose this one."

            The black haired ghost cracked a slight grin, though it was clear the expression was forced as he backed up and the safety door rolled down and latched shut. With a tremendous roar of thrusters, the ungainly craft lurched into the air. Once airborne, it lost all pretense of clumsiness and shot over the horizon in an instant, the sonic boom all that remained of its departure.

\---

            "What the-?!"

            Valerie pulled back on the throttle, the craft slowing to a crawl as it neared Amity Park. What was left of it, at least. Disbelieving silence hovered over the cramped command bridge as everyone surveyed the destruction from several thousand feet in the air. Where the city center once stood was a crater, several miles wide and possibly almost as deep. It was unnatural, sheer sided and clean cut, revealing parts of the Underground to the sky as if someone had taken a cross-section of the region. Water flowed into the bottom of the smooth crater from pipes and hidden reservoirs that had been sliced open; it was the only sign of movement in the bowl shaped crater. The ruins of the Outlands ringed it; the crater had consumed the entire New City and most of the near Outlands; and most likely a considerable portion of the old Outlands beyond the ruined shield towers of Dan's rampages.

            The view was crystal clear; not so much as a speck of dust remained of the city center, no smoke rose to the sky as a black pillar marking the destruction. It was as though some cosmic scoop had dropped from the sky and carved out the giant crater, taking all the material within away. No blasted debris scattered outward from the crater; there wouldn't be any survivors; it hadn't _been_ an explosion in the normal sense.

            Amity Park was gone, wiped from the face of the earth as though it had never existed; and at the rim, flanked by countless veiled ghosts towered Maghnus, the silver gleam from the gauntlet on his left arm shining bright enough to make the sunlight seem wan, waiting for them.


	23. Shattered Skies

**Shattered Skies**  
"As the red day is dawning  
And the lightning cracks the sky  
They raise their hands to the heavens above  
With resentment to their eyes."  
_-"Through the Fire and the Flames" - Dragonforce_

            The tyrant stood his ground, an unmoving statue carved of silver, blackened steel, and polished red leather armor; surrounded on all sides by a seething green and crimson mass of skeletal soldiers and beasts, the army ringing most of the crater and even spilling over the rim like some kind of post-mortem trickle. Discounting Maghnus and his gauntlet, just his army alone was a daunting prospect to try and tackle. If the tyrant chose to enter the fray in immediate support of his minions, the odds of their success even with the Reality Gauntlet were positively abysmal.

            "There's.... so many-!" Valerie stated in a strained voice.

            "Reminds me of Pariah's Keep all over again." Dan remarked dryly, casting a knowing glance at Danny in the Ecto-Skeleton.

            "Getting scared?" The black haired ghost retorted.

            "As if fear has ever stopped either of us before?" The fire-headed ghost countered, an indirect admission of his own trepidation.

            "Save the witty banter for later." Sam groused. "Does anyone have a plan?"

            A brief silence fell over the gathered combatants, broken eventually by Dan snorting in disdain. "I don't know about you, but my plan was to fly down there, ignore the odds, and win."

            "Valerie! Is that you up there?" Paulina's voice came over the huntress' armband.

            "Yeah. Where are you?"

            From the image on the tiny screen, the Latina was somewhere dark, vague forms visible in the shadows around her. "Hiding with the surviving Patrol- we got into some of the old parts of the Underground.... Valerie, there aren't many survivors."

            Already having a good idea of the civilian losses didn't make that confirmation any less painful to hear for most of those in the ship. The near-total loss trumped anything Dan had thrown at the city in the past decade. At his worst, he still left broken buildings, maimed corpses; _some_ sign, some proof that those places had existed, that those people had once lived . Maghnus left nothing in his wake, no rubble to clear, no bodies to bury or burn; just an unnaturally perfect hole in the ground.

            "That's still better than _no_ survivors." Danny said quietly into the silence. "And if we don't get moving, there won't be _any_ , period."

            "We're on our way Paulina. Stay hidden... if they don't know where you guys are, we can use the rest of the Patrol as an ambush while the ghosts have the big guy occupied." Valerie instructed. "Hang in there, it's about to get busy."

            "Everybody ready?" Tucker asked, transformation amulet already glowing as the royal geek fidgeted with the talisman.

            "Bring it!"

            Valerie kicked the throttle on the craft, and sent the bulbous vehicle careening toward Maghnus' army. Everyone else manned the smaller control consoles; the ship spewing energy beams from various gun turrets as it roared overhead. The beams chewed gaps in the mass of veiled ghosts, but any shots that chanced too close to Maghnus simply disappeared in a silver flash from his upraised left arm. The shockwave of the craft's passing knocked several of the ghosts on the ground over, but it merely made the tyrant's wild red hair whip about like a frenzied beast.

            _Maybe we can do enough damage this way and save the close-in fighting for the finale._ Valerie mused, pulling back on the controls to send the craft clawing skyward for a second pass. She frowned. _And maybe you'll hang up your guns and forgive_ him _for what he's done. That's probably just as likely to happen._

            True to the huntress' prediction, a horde of winged beasts lurched into the air, and siege engines down below began launching giant green boulders and spears. Most of the ghosts that closed in got shot down by the gun turrets, but the weapons clanged hard against the hull, causing it to wobble and shudder midair, smoke beginning to spew from damaged areas. A silver beam from below lanced the engines, the ship's momentum taking it higher for a moment before the back end exploded. With a groan of metal gone past the breaking point, the nose of the ship arced back downward, plummeting to earth.

            "Everybody bail out!" Sam yelled over the racket.

            Valerie punched a button, and the exit hatches clanked open; all the ghosts on board streamed out, taking positions and readying for battle as the ship plunged into the green mass below. The explosion sent another shockwave rolling over the area, incinerating hundreds of the tyrant's goons and knocking a few thousand over from the blast wave. More ghosts swarmed across the normal looking crater to fill the gaps in the ranks.

            "Okay guys, let's do this!" Tucker bellowed, voice going deeper and ending in a roar as the freefalling geek transformed midair; the red, yellow, and black dragon spreading wide wings and arresting his descent. "Don't forget the plan!"

            "Try to keep up." Dan sneered, hovering alongside Valerie's jet sled.

            "Back at you, ghost." The huntress snarled.

            The two dragons had divided the ghosts into two groups back before they left Vlad's mansion; Tucker had command of one, Dora the other. Their plan was a crude one, but the two groups would try to clear a path through the minions so that Dan and Valerie could get at Maghnus himself and bring the Reality Gauntlet to bear. No one was exactly sure how Valerie was going to stop the tyrant; if history was any indication, the best they could hope for was simply pigeonholing the giant ghost back into some alternate dimension like Pariah had done in the distant past. They hadn't been able to plan that vital final stage of the attack.

            The two dragons tucked their wings in close and let gravity take over, a pair of long arcing dives to the left and right over the nearest of Maghnus' goons. As they got within range, both gaped wide and shot massive swathes of green flame over the crowded soldiers; the flames causing chaos in the ranks as those burning flailed in a panic, setting their neighbors alight. Small gaps began to open in the crowd as the troops tried to avoid their char-broiled compatriots.

            Just in time for the second wave; Skulktech 9.9 blasting overhead in the wake of Dora's passage raining ecto-beams and missiles into the mess; Ember tailing Tucker, her guitar in hand and unleashing a cacophony of shockwaves. Those ghosts more skilled at melee combat hung back for the moment, waiting for the ranged attackers to cleave an opening in the amassed army.

            After the first pass, the dragons traded speed for height in near-matching climbs. Tucker was the first to wingover for a second run, when a series of loud *shunk!*s sounded from below, further back from the front line. The red and black dragon yelped and lurched over sideways, a hole punched through one wing, trailing a chain and a weight on one end, and a wicked barbed shaft dangling on the other side. He turned intangible, the weight falling through the injured wing and crashing to earth. With the weight gone, he was able to right his flight path, not much worse for the wear.

            "Tuck! You okay?" Danny shouted, seeing his friend take the blow.

            "Ow... yeah, it's nothing major." The drake replied with a wince, climbing higher to get out of range of the harpoons below. "Woulda been bad if it actually _hit_!"

            "Leave the machines to us!" Technus crowed as he and Skulker rocketed down into the fray, spewing beams from a large cannon in one arm, keeping ghosts and their weapons off with a large blade mounted on the other arm of the power armor. Explosions marked the path of the pair, a jagged line of fire ending at one of the large siege engines and punctuated with the loud report of another explosion.

            "We of the Far Frozen won't stand to be outdone!" Frostbite roared, the yeti ghost and his tribe charging into the fray with blades and spears of ice; a clump of white and blue advancing into a field of red and green. Instead of explosions, great spikes and boulders of ice marked their advance, a frigid blast from Frostbite catching a ballista and its harpoon mid-launch in a massive block of ice.

            Clouds gathered overhead, lightning spearing outward from a tornado that formed around one of the larger ghosts. "These machines are nothing more than little toys against my art!" Vortex roared over the wind of his own making.

            Despite being outnumbered at least several dozen to one, the massed denizens of the Ghost Zone held their ground, fighting with everything they had. Perhaps the sight of the vaporized Amity Park had driven the point home; if they lost here, it was all over. Over for everyone, for everything; human, ghost, or otherwise.

            "Enough hanging back." Valerie glared, revving her jet sled, autocannon in one hand, Reality Gauntlet on the other.

            "About time." Dan sneered, flashing the huntress a fanged smirk. "Let's dance!"

            "Don't forget me!" Danny hovered in the Ecto-Skeleton nearby.

            "Oh you aren't going into that mess without me, Danny!" Sam declared.

            Dan rolled his eyes at the display. "If you slow me down, don't expect me to wait for you to catch up."

            The fire-headed ghost was the first to tear across the battlefield, a volley of small, explosive green blasts chewing through gaps in the enemy forces. Mimicking Tucker and Dora's two-stage aerial strike pattern, Danny arced down after, wide blue beams lancing out from the Ecto-Skeleton's hands.

            Finally Valerie swooped down in a blaze of gold light, lashing the ground with beams from the Reality Gauntlet. With a groan of wood and steel creaking, siege engines caught in the beams shifted and... growled? Veiled ghosts yelped and scattered as several of their own weapons took on a life of their own, smashing mindlessly into the massed troops.

            Maghnus smiled, the expression twisting his stark white face into a hideous sneer at the display of power.

            "There!" The tyrant boomed over the noise of battle. "The human girl, bring her to me! He who brings that which is mine will reap many rewards when the world is remade at my hands!"

            The veiled ghosts rallied, many floating into the air to try and go after Valerie. A volley of green-fletched arrows arced toward the group, clattering against a blue shield as Danny dove in between the huntress and the barrage.

            Dan growled a curse, grabbing a winged beast by the throat and snapping the bony neck. "If anyone is going to kill _her_ , it's **me**!"

            "Yeah, keep dreamin', ghost!" Valerie retorted, blasting several more flying creatures with her autocannon, while using the Reality Gauntlet to turn anything against Maghnus' forces that she could. Transformed siege weaponry, rusted steel beams and old concrete and glass from the ruins, massive boulders from the ground formed a mass of incongruous golems; mindless automatons bent on following the simple order to destroy the enemy.

            Several divisions of Maghnus' forces spread out at orders bellowed by the tyrant, moving to flank the smaller band of defenders; there were certainly enough of them to hem the motley group in completely. Still, by and large they fought in terms of traditional warfare, not seizing the full advantage of flight and aerial combat. It was only a slight edge for the defenders, but every little bit helped.

            "Guys, look out!" Sam called. "Behind!"

            Dora wheeled around in a maneuver  that flagrantly defied physics, the blue dragon making an otherwise impossible arc to snatch one of the chain-weighted harpoons out of the air. Gripping the shaft with her foreclaws, she sideslipped into a steep dive, speed aided by the metal ball attached to the weapon. Ghosts scattered out of her path as she snapped her wings open only a few dozen feet from the ground, turning her plunge instead into a blisteringly fast level flight. Between the weight and her speed, the harpoon and chained weight smashed a long line of destruction through the flanking forces when Dora released it, spraying fire to the sides to cover her ascent as she flapped madly for height.

            "We need more air support!" Tucker shouted, sweeping low over the battlefield to grasp one of the smaller catapults in his talons and send it smashing into a group of skeletal ghosts. "It's our only advantage over these guys!"

            "Workin' on it!" Valerie growled, pulling her jet sled into a near-vertical climb out of harpoon range.

            A few moments later, the huntress swept back down, now leading a gathering of several dozen winged creatures, mostly cloud-colored and streaked with bright green. The huntress set them to savage the enemies below, joining the efforts of the golems that the Reality Gauntlet had already made.

            "Hah! With this we can _make_ our own army!" Valerie crowed, the Reality Gauntlet blazing with light as she created more automatons and weapons.

            "And I can **destroy** it!"

            A flurry of silver beams shot across the battlefield, scorching golems and veiled ghosts alike. Where the beams struck, spheres of black formed briefly, and anything caught inside them was simply gone when they disappeared, dismembered bits falling to the ground where something was caught only halfway in a blast.

            Maghnus floated above his forces, smiling coldly as he fixed Valerie with scathing black eyes.

            "Come, human, and drink deep the taste of despair!" The tyrant boomed, left arm a silver beacon. "Die, and know it was in vain!"

            He whipped his massive sword in an oblique arc, a wide crescent of red energy cracking off the blade and sweeping through the area. The defenders had to scramble out of the way, gawking in various degrees of shock as the tyrant's unaided power alone cleaved a huge trench where it hit the ground, the wound gaping dozens of feet wide in some places and easily a hundred or more long.

            "Despair?" Valerie spat, her blood up and body high on the adrenaline rush. "Don't make me laugh, ghost! I know more about despair than a stonefaced freak like you would ever know!"

            A green blast caught Maghnus upside the head, making the tyrant stagger briefly. Dan... or rather, five of him, floated a short distance away in a loose formation, each copy wearing a matching sneer.

            "And you and I have a score to settle." He sneered, five voices in perfect unison. "Something about your brother, I recall?"

            Maghnus glared, launching a barrage of black and silver beams from his left arm at the offending ghost. Dan scattered in five different directions, flanking the tyrant and countering with his own volley of green blasts, cursing when they were countered by the silver gauntlet or deflected by red shields.

            "Begone, you." Maghnus lunged with unexpected speed, bodily smashing one of Dan's copies across the face with his spiked shoulder guard. "For I have greater business which demands my attention than a meager nuisance such as you!"

            The other copies vanished as Dan went flying from the blow, the ghost disappearing before smashing into the ground; he'd probably gone invisible and intangible to avoid the impact.

            Valerie didn't wait, and blazed into action herself, diving down and beneath the massive ghost. She slung her autocannon over one shoulder; Dan's attack proved that the weapon was going to be useless in this battle, the Reality Gauntlet was her only weapon of consequence.

            She had to dodge a flurry of red energy beams as Maghnus tried to hit her; but years of dueling with Dan had honed her flying skills to near perfection and she ducked and dovetailed her jet sled through the barrage.

            "Have a taste of your own medicine!" She snarled, aiming the Reality Gauntlet and firing.

            Maghnus responded with a silver bolt of his own; energies collided midair and the fireworks began. The rest of the defenders had to scatter as the opposing powers sent boulders and other debris reeling through the sky; things being created, only to be destroyed instantly, the detritus remaining to plummet to the ground or conversely drift into the sky. Deflected bolts ricocheted wildly over the area, sending spires of warped rock and steel clawing for the sky like hideous plants; or cleaved great gaps in the ground, some glowing orange and red in their depths.

            "My fool brother tried these games ages ago, human." Maghnus sneered, almost sounding bored. "It failed him then, as it shall fail you now!"

            Valerie broke off the attack, pulling her sled hard to one side. The direct approach wasn't working, but maybe she could outmaneuver the larger ghost and catch him on the unguarded flank or back.

            "Dance about all you like, in the end your fate shall **not** change!" Maghnus roared, whirling to get a bead on the huntress.

            "I don't think so!" Something snared Maghnus at the shoulders, holding him back and wrecking his aim.

            "Hit him!"

            Valerie was startled at the intervention; pinning the tyrant's sword arm was Tucker, the dragon geek veritably wrapped around the limb and trying to paralyze it through sheer weight alone. Holding Maghnus's left arm, the one with the gauntlet, was the white and black of Danny in the Ecto-Skeleton. Dora joined the dogpile, tangling up the giant ghost's legs and trying to bite through the armor protecting him.

            "Game over, ghost!" Valerie took aim and fired.

            "For you, perhaps!" Maghnus snarled, spinning to put Danny in the path of the attack.

            Valerie yelped and pulled the blow, the golden beam narrowly missing her friend and crashing uselessly against the ground below, warping a rock formation.

            "Whoa-!" Danny fought to hang on as Maghnus shifted his arm despite the added weight, slamming his armored fist into Tucker's face. The drake yowled and let go, clutching at his battered snout.

            Before the others could respond, the tyrant stooped over, clutching Dora at the throat with his newly-freed arm. The blue dragon squirmed, trying to find purchase for her claws as he pulled her up, but they merely scrabbled uselessly across Maghnus' red armor.

            "Dora-!" Sam darted in, scoring the tyrant across the eyes with a lash of her thorn whip; with an angry yell, Maghnus threw the battered dragon away, one hand going to his scratched eyes, the other launching red beams at the retreating goth.

            "No you don't!" Danny growled, still holding on tight to Maghnus' gauntlet-covered arm and blasting away with the Ecto-Skeleton's weapons at point-blank range. "You're not touching her over my dead body-.... ur.... maybe that's not the best- Yikes!"

            Alarms blared in the tiny cockpit as Maghnus swatted the suit, massive hand getting a grip around the midsection. The armor creaked and squealed as the tyrant pulled, shattering the suit's legs and lower torso. Danny yelled, more in surprise than pain; he was short enough that his legs were left dangling unharmed from the upper half of the suit.

            "Get your hands off him!" Valerie hissed, flying in close and lobbing a beam from the Reality Gauntlet at the Ecto-Skeleton.

            In a flash, the broken armor was repaired; perhaps even improved upon. Danny reacted swiftly, kicking hard at the tyrant's hand. He'd loosened his grip though, and when Maghnus smacked the restored suit, the black haired ghost had to fight off the vertigo as he was sent cart-wheeling wildly through the air.

            "Danny! You okay?" Danny's flight was arrested sharply by Tucker catching his friend, giving the smaller ghost enough time to get his bearings.

            "Yeah, that was close."

            "Where the heck is Dan"? The dragon groused, looking over the battlefield.

            "I dunno. Maghnus nailed him." Danny frowned.

\---

            "Hey, snap out of it!"

            Dan didn't _remember_ being knocked out. The fire-headed ghost shook the stars out of his field of vision, blinking a few times. That red spiked bit of armor nailed him... and then... what?

            He took rapid stock of his surroundings; shafts of daylight pierced the otherwise monotone shadows of... a cave? _No, wait, the underground warrens that the humans all hid in to get away from me a year ago?_

            A few dozen forms milled anxiously in the murk; the occasional stray bit of daylight showing the chrome glimmer of Ghost Patrol weaponry or falling flat on the dirty material of their uniforms. He was sprawled on his back against the dusty floor of the tunnel; he must have gone intangible out of reflex when Maghnus clobbered him. Paulina stood over him; she had him by the shoulders, evidently it was her shaking that had rousted him from his involuntary nap.

            He turned intangible as he got up, causing the Latina to fall over when the shoulder she was gripping suddenly vanished from under her hand. Paulina scrambled back to her feet, wary.

            Dan ignored the anxious murmuring of the other humans, pointed ears straining to catch the noise filtering down from above where the battle was still raging.

            "What are you doing down here?" Paulina's tone was just short of openly scolding. "What about that Maghnus guy?"

            "It hasn't exactly been a walk in the park." Dan retorted dryly, checking to see how badly he'd been injured. Thankfully he'd managed to open gaps wide enough so that the actual spikes on the tyrant's armor had only pierced thin air rather than his chest; it had been the bodily impact that had sent him reeling.

            "What about the Commander?" One of the other Patrol members got up the nerve to ask.

            " _She_ was still in one piece the last I saw her." Dan retorted with a glare.

            The ground heaved suddenly, the cracked roof of the tunnel groaning and threatening to collapse on the people taking cover in the ruins of the Underground. The rumbling of thunder and flashes of varicolored light filtered down through the dusty air; clearly the battle above ground was still going strong.

            "And it sounds like she still is." Paulina noted. "Okay guys, get ready. Sounds like a good time to make that ambush."

            "You do that, but remember that Maghnus is _mine_." Dan growled, glaring skyward as he took a deep breath. "I'm done playing around."

            "Wait, what are you-"

\---

            The ground directly beneath the battle bulged suddenly, the unnatural formation muting an otherwise loud howling noise. After a second, the debris gave way as it blasted up and out, a rolling green shockwave knocking aside skeletal goons and the defenders unfortunate enough to be nearby. Siege engines were overturned or sent tumbling from the epicenter, crushing anything that couldn't get out of the way quickly enough.

            Those in the air had enough time to get out of the worst of it, Valerie suppressing a shiver at the distressing cacophony of Dan's Ghostly Wail. Maghnus backed away, the tyrant shielding himself with a glowing red barrier as he floated back from the area hit the hardest.

            "That attack failed against me once before, yet still you attempt the same foolish-" Maghnus started to boast when a black and white blur shot out of the crater below and behind the giant ghost..

            "Hey, Your _Highness_!" Dan sneered, his tone turning the title into an insult, both hands over his head and cradling a big green blast. "Time for your royal portrait, so say cheese!"

            "Watch out!" Danny shouted, throwing the Ecto-Skeleton in between the girls and the explosion.

            "Has he gone nuts?!" Sam yelped over the noise, shielding herself against the shockwave. "Did he forget that we're all up here too?"

            The thundercrack echoed wildly across the ruins, the blast itself knocking even those in the air away from where it hit. Valerie gave a yelp as she felt herself get flung from her jet sled; despite being accustomed to such midair acrobatics, the freefall before the device caught her still put her heart in her throat.

            "What the heck are you doing?!" She shouted, shaking a fist angrily at the tall ghost.

            "What I _should_ have done awhile ago." Dan purred wickedly, both fists glowing ominously green.


	24. Bleeding Earth

**Bleeding Earth**  
"Turn on temptation, arise, tear the sky  
This nightmare is everywhere, my eyes open wide  
Crash on through troubled waters, oceans collide  
We stand alone until the end we fight side by side"  
_-"Strike of the Ninja" - Dragonforce_

            "Did our heavy firepower guy just go berserk on us?" Sam backed away, her thorn whip held defensively between her and the fire-headed spook.

            "You better not be betraying us, ghost." Valerie snarled, Maghnus momentarily forgotten as she leveled the Reality Gauntlet in Dan's direction.

            "Put a sock in it, Valerie." Dan retorted boredly, _his_ attention firmly on the tyrant as he cracked his knuckles. "I'll have time to deal with _you_ later."

            Further dispute was interrupted by rumbling laughter. Maghnus was watching their exchange and laughing, a gravelly, grating sound above the continued din of battle below. " **This** is the final alliance of man and spirit pledged in body and soul to my defeat? I have far less to be concerned about than I had believed before, if **this** is all that stands before that which is mine!"

            "What alliance are you talking about?" Dan countered, floating down until he was level with the tyrant. "I don't need their help, or any fancy magic trinkets to compensate for any shortcomings."

            The last was delivered with a pointed glance at the silver gauntlet adorning Maghnus' left arm.

            "Are you saying you could actually defeat **me** in single combat?" The tyrant sneered. "After the results of our **first** encounter?"

            "Sure, why not?" Dan retorted. "You're not so tough without that girly trinket of yours. Let's see you win a fight _without_ the stupid thing!"

            "Your flimsy insults bore me, spirit." Maghnus glowered, the blows to the tyrant's ego having apparently found a mark as he leveled his sword to point at the fire-headed ghost. "If you wish to duel me in single combat, then cease to belabor the point! Issue your challenge and draw your weapon so that I may deal with you and then take back the Ascendancy from the human!"

            Dan's response was a green blast to the tyrant's face. It wasn't a powerful blast, more likely just an annoyance to Maghnus. Just enough to get the fire-headed ghost's point across.

            "I'm not fond of formalities." Dan smirked, showing his fangs. "Bring it!"

            "Are you insane?!" Danny shouted over the commotion below where the united ghosts and the Patrol were fighting Maghnus' army.

            "The question you _should_ be asking-" Dan frowned, "-is if I'm insane _enough_."

            The fire-headed ghost didn't give anyone else a chance to intervene, lunging at Maghnus with both fists glowing in preparation for more blasts.

            "Fool enough to come unarmed to a duel!" Maghnus whirled, matching the direction of Dan's leap, aiming to slice right through where the smaller ghost's trajectory would take him.

            Which might have worked, save for the fact Dan turned semi-intangible, the tyrant's blade bisecting only green goo that quickly reformed, the fire-headed ghost now in a prime position to hit Maghnus from behind.

            "While he's keeping the big guy busy, let's focus on taking out the _rest_ of the goons!" Tucker bellowed before diving down on one of the larger skeletal beasts, bringing four sets of claws and his fire to bear against the thing's vulnerable backside.

            "He's right, let's go!" Danny forced himself to quit gawking, diving back down into the fray.

            "Don't think you're getting away with what you did to my city!" Paulina hissed, blasting away with her favorite beam cannon.

            "Die, human!" One of the veiled skeletons leapt at the Latina from behind.

            "Oh no you don't, bonehead!" Danny slammed into the ghost feet first, smashing the skeleton to bits beneath the Ecto-Skeleton's armored bulk as Paulina glanced over her shoulder to make sure that there wasn't another threat coming from behind.

            "Hi Danny!" She beamed, merrily fragging another enemy ghost with her weaponry.

            "Ur... hi, Paulina."

            "Less flirting, more fighting!" Sam swept overhead, using thorn whips in both hands to tangle more skeletons and swing them around into crowds of enemy soldiers as makeshift bludgeons.

            Valerie tore her gaze away from Dan and Maghnus with a snarl, returning her attention and the Reality Gauntlet's power to the enemy troops. More golden bolts lanced from her weapon toward the ground, massive flailing arms of stone tearing up from the earth to lash across the battlefield. The rusted hulk of an old Guys in White combat tank rose into the air shakily, rusted limbs shattering through portions of the hull, joined by a smashed fighter jet affixed to the quasi-humanoid golem's back like some kind of malformed jetpack. With a roar of tearing metal, the thing lurched into the fray, swatting at the veiled ghosts that tried to raise their spears and swords against it as it slammed one metal foot into the side of a nearby catapult.

            "Dance about all you wish, it will do you no good in the end!" Maghnus roared, swatting at where Dan kicked the tyrant in the shoulder.

            "Will it?" The shorter ghost retorted, splitting into two copies to dodge around the fist.

            Dan let the duplicate vanish as he flew close to the swatting arm, scoring the armor with a sustained green blast. Maghnus snarled and lashed out, catching Dan across the stomach with the back of one fist. With a grunt of surprise, the shorter ghost was sent tumbling through the air, stopping himself short of slamming into anything and not much worse for the wear.

            "Not doing as well as you had thought you would?" Maghnus taunted, his smile a vicious slash across his pale face.

            "Just warming up." Dan snarled, launching himself high into the air above the massive ghost.

            "Chew on this!" Valerie rained a mixed volley of autocannon fire and Reality Gauntlet beams on the enemy ghouls beneath her, leaving a glowing red trail of molten rock and twisted spears of stone and metal in her wake.

            A ballista lay burning on its side as it sank into one of the larger pools of magma; rather than leave such a major hazard, another quick pass with the Reality Gauntlet turned the red hot pool to solid stone, the remains of the burning war machine and several still-twitching skeletons sticking out of the now-cold rock. The huntress spotted the Box Ghost hovering above a regiment of Maghnus's soldiers that Skulktech had cornered close to another one of the jagged red gouges she'd carved in the surface.

            "BEHOLD MY CORRUGATED SQUARE DEATHTRAP!" The Box Ghost bellowed, forming a large box-shaped enclosure around the skeletons.

            "Will you get on with it?" Skulker growled.

            "Eesh, and you like to say that _I_ , Technus, am excessively long winded? Me, the master of-"

            "Yes, you're long-winded too." The ghostly hunter scowled at his partner, cutting the tirade short.

            Box Ghost grinned, miming the motion of a box shrinking with his hook-tipped arm and good hand. To match the motion, his trap around the goons began to steadily decrease in size, pushing the veiled ghouls toward the liquefied rock. With nowhere else to go, they went into the magma with shrieks, only a few quick enough to turn intangible and escape that way.

            "A few dozen down, a few hundred thousand to go!" Sam whipped by, dual-wielding her favored thorn vine weapons and hurling a battered beast into a cluster of soldiers.

            "Second squadron, you guys go cover Valerie!" Paulina commanded via her armband communicator; there was no way her voice alone would carry clear across the battlefield otherwise.. "Don't leave the Commander vulnerable!"

            Dora winged by overhead, leaving a wake of burning machinery and skeletons behind her, Tucker paralleling the flaming dive a few hundred feet away. Arrows whistled up from the ground, most clattering harmlessly off the dragons' protective scales. Dora hissed when a few went through one wing membrane and she banked hard to one side, spitting a sizeable fireball at the offending group of veiled archers. With shouts of surprise and panic the flaming ghosts scattered, sowing further chaos among the ranked troops.

            "Behind you!" Danny yelled, spying one of the flying beasts coming up behind Valerie.

            "What the-?" Dan yelped, his target having moved almost too quick for the ghost to follow.

            "You fail miserably to challenge me, spirit!" Maghnus bellowed, catching Dan across the shoulders with his spiked mace.

            Dan managed to avoid the worst of the blow, but he was still sent reeling into a crowd of veiled ghosts on the ground. They looked ready to dogpile the prone ghost, but instead formed a ring a respectful distance away as Maghnus landed, the ground quaking under his armored boots.

            "It is finished!" Maghnus crowed.

            "I don't think so, ugly!" Valerie glared down the length of the Reality Gauntlet, having used the device to transform her attacker from freakish boney beast into something else entirely.

            The creature was still hideous, but with a rattling shriek the beast turned and landed amid several goons and began attacking them, a whirlwind of bone, flapping cloth, and tormented cries and shouts.

            That she could completely _change_ a living, or at least pseudo-living creature and make it do her bidding had some very interesting implications. She doubted it would work so well to bend an intelligent being to her will, but against minions and goons such power could make at least part of the battle much easier.

            Several of the surviving Patrol members took up positions around her, forming a protective ring some hundred feet in diameter to give their Commander breathing room without worrying about attacks from all angles at once.

            With a smirk, she took aim with the Gauntlet, and opened fire.

            Dan rode the blast wave from his point-blank blast to avoid a sword sweep that would surely have caught him right in the neck otherwise. With a wordless snarl, he sprang at Maghnus, hoping to use the giant ghost's momentum to his advantage and attack during the sword-strike's follow-through.

            The shorter ghost's fist impacted; and _snapped_ something, Dan's flight speed taking him out of the tyrant's immediate retaliatory attack range. With a sneer, he skidded to a halt, jagged cape flaring out behind him from his inertia.

            "How'd you like that?" Valerie sneered, her attack laying enemy ghosts within a hundred feet of her position flat, many writhing in pain or resistance to the Reality Gauntlet's magic.

            "What the heck did you _do_?" Sam gaped, watching as the veiled figures below bent and twisted into new, unrecognizable forms.

            "Not enough, spirit!" Maghnus boomed, a snarl in his voice indicating that Dan's blow still made the tyrant angry.

            "Aw, the big bad ghost king upset at a little cosmetic damage?" Dan sneered back, waving the broken length of black horn like a makeshift sword.

            "Only a cornered beast has the luxury of being a braggart, and there is no doubt that you are **cornered**!" Maghnus hissed, leaping at Dan with his sword at the ready.

            "Funny, you're the one doing an awful lot of the bragging." The fire-headed ghost retorted, half-turning and raising the busted horn to block the larger weapon.

            That was a mistake. The sharp edge of Maghnus' blade stuck briefly in the curved length of horn; but the bony thing snapped easily under the combined force of the blade's edge and the tyrant's momentum. Dan threw himself to one side, snarling when the blade scored a shallow gash in his side, the green wound stinging fiercely as he tumbled gracelessly across the jagged side of a fallen building.

            _I remember knocking that down a few years ago._ Dan noted dazedly to himself as he got his feet back underneath himself.

            "I give you one final chance to surrender and accept a swift end." Maghnus stepped forward once, twice, closing in on Dan. "You ought to consider yourself fortunate to be offered the opportunity, for I am **not** known for my patience with insubordination!"

            "Too bad I don't know the _meaning_ of surrender then." Dan spat. "I _did_ drop out of high school after all."

            _That line would work a lot better if_ Vlad _hadn't finished college, y'know._ Danny noted to himself, one of the few keeping tabs on the fire-headed ghost's battle while fighting the goon squad.

            Before Maghnus could retort, Dan took a deep breath, though the movement brought jolts of pain from his wounded side. It was far from full power as a result, but at close range, the Ghostly Wail still had enough force to bowl the tyrant over.

            "Alright, how'd you like that?" Valerie crowed, watching the gold shockwave wash over the nearest goons and causing total chaos to erupt in the ranks as the Reality Gauntlet turned dozens of the simpleminded veiled skeletons against their comrades. "With this, it doesn't matter _how_ many lackeys this guy's got!"

            "Man, can't you just turn _all_ of them against Maghnus then?" Tucker complained. "Not like they'd do much good, but at least they wouldn't be shooting at _us_!"

            "Hey, _he_ said he wanted to go one on one with Maghnus." The huntress retorted.

            "Valerie, this _really_ isn't the time for that." Danny groaned while blasting several beasts out of the air with the Ecto-Skeleton's arm cannons.

            "I know, but he's doing fine without the help so far!" Valerie remarked, launching another gold beam volley into the slowly thinning ranks of Maghnus' forces.

            "Is that so?" Maghnus sneered as he righted himself, grit and dust only slightly dulling his wild mane of red hair. "Then I shall teach you the meaning of the word **suffering**!"

            The tyrant raised his sword in both hands and surged forward with a guttural bellow. Dan's eyes widened in surprise; there was no way he could _dodge_ that, not with his injury slowing him down.

            Dan didn't waste his breath on a retort; if he couldn't dodge, the only other option was to counter, since he rather suspected Maghnus wasn't expecting him to rush _into_ the oncoming attack. Ignoring the protest from his wounded side, he launched himself forward with all the speed he could muster. He had to get in beneath the massive sword's arc if he was to have a chance.

            It worked; he narrowly slipped past the bulk of the blade. With a shout, Dan braced himself, catching and grabbing the hilt of the weapon and forcing it to a halt. Maghnus snarled at him and shoved down on the weapon harder, trying to force the shorter ghost to falter or weaken his grip. Dan's growl was a mirror of the expression, the fire-headed ghost putting all the strength he could into wresting the weapon out of the tyrant's hands; though in reality it was taking everything he could muster just to keep the weapon from descending the rest of the way and catching him over the head.

            "Are you nuts?!" Danny yelled, catching sight of the pair's deadlock. "Get out of there!"

            The shout drew the attention of most of the others, who spared a glance from their respective battles to see what the alarm was about. Even Dan barely glanced toward the noise, a fraction of a second of slight distraction.

            In an instant, Maghnus' snarl turned into a grin, the tyrant shifting his grip to hold the blade with one hand and seize advantage of his opponent's brief lapse of attention. The other hand swooped down on Dan like the end of the world, catching the fire-headed ghost around the midsection and squeezing, hard. Dan saw it coming too late to do anything except gasp in pain at the sudden and intense pressure on his side, the pain causing stars to dance in his vision.

            "A single moment of weakness, and you are **finished**!" Maghnus crowed, hurling Dan into the air. "The triumph is **mine** , and soon the Ascendancy shall be as well!"

            Dan tried frantically to get his bearings, get control of his trajectory. With his vision blurred and the wind howling in his ears, coupled with his injury sending paralyzing jolts of pain up his spine, he was having trouble enough just figuring out which way was up as he tumbled wildly through the air.

            "Dan-!" Tucker yelped, abandoning his part of the battle to power into the air in a futile attempt to reach the fire-headed ghost.

            "Tucker, get down!" Danny yelled, seeing what the tyrant's next move was going to be.

            Maghnus laughed with nothing short of delight, a small globe of red ecto-energy pooling into the air above his hand. "And there will be no escape to another world for you this time!"

            The energy ball was small in the tyrant's hand; Maghnus stabbed his sword into the rubble, and like one would flick a marble, brought one finger up to snap the beam into motion; a ballistic arc through the air, with Dan as its target. Tucker gave a yelp and folded his wings to drop like a lead weight and wincing when just the wake of the beam's passage burned some scales off.

            The direct hit was worse.

            Dan had been launched high enough and far enough that his pained cry came down as just a thin wail as the red beam hit him in the midsection... and kept going, the blast disappearing into the distance as the fire-headed ghost plummeted, a gaping hole in his abdomen visible even at a distance.

            "Now, human." Maghnus smiled, a cruel, dangerous grin as he turned in Valerie's direction. "If you wish to continue your futile struggle-"

            "Eat this, ghost!" Valerie snarled, snapping out of momentary shock at seeing _him_ , Phantom, her nightmare of the past decade so thoroughly beaten to bring the Reality Gauntlet to bear again, this time actually going all the way and seizing the tyrant's own troops to throw against the giant ghost.

            Danny winced even as he put the Ecto-Skeleton into motion, racing across the battlefield to match Dan's plunge. He knew entirely too well exactly what it felt like to have one's innards blasted clear out by an ectoplasmic beam, and it was not a memory he cared to dwell on. _I guess what goes around comes around or something._

            With the speed boost of the powered armor, he easily maneuvered into position to break Dan's fall without breaking his neck. The taller ghost's wound was even worse to behold up close, a nearly circular hole messily punched clear through his torso, almost wide enough to have cleaved Dan in two. Surprisingly little ectoplasm was flowing out of the massive injury; for the most part the edges had been cauterized by the heat of the energy beam's passage.

            "Hey, hang in there!" Danny weakly encouraged his allegedly worse half.

            Dan didn't respond save for a gargling groan, both arms weakly clutching at his midsection, red eyes unfocused and glazed over.

            "Valerie!" Tucker saw Dan's condition and roared over the din of the battle to get the huntress' attention. "Need a little help here, and we don't have Vlad to play nursemaid!"

            "What do you want _me_ to do about it?" Valerie shouted back, her right arm a blaze of gold as she put the full firepower of the Reality Gauntlet into play against Maghnus, who was busy wiping out his own forces that had been turned against him.

            "Hello, duh! Artifact of near-infinite power!" The royal geek countered. "Look, I know you don't wanna, but can't you... I don't know, _fix_ him or something?"

            "Tuck's right." Danny agreed. "We've gotta bring the entire Ascendancy against this guy, and that includes the Ring and the Crown. Which _he_ has."

            Valerie visibly balked at the idea of saving the fire-headed ghost. She _knew_ the circumstances, that like it or not, they _needed_ Dan's firepower. It didn't make the idea any more palatable, given how long she'd dreamed of seeing the ghost laid low and beaten the way he'd left her father and so many other people who crossed him in the past. It was a dream come true, with the absolute worst timing possible.

            _Who says I can't beat this tyrant guy without_ his _help anyway?_

            Ten years of conditioning, of structuring everything she did so as to interfere with Dan, to oppose him in anything and everything was a hard habit to break.

            A black beam cut a jagged arc through the air, Valerie barely had time to counter with a golden blast from the Reality Gauntlet; the clash of opposing powers sent her jet sled reeling through the air and it was only by virtue of years of practice that the huntress kept her footing.

            " **Pathetic**!" Maghnus boomed, the daylight gleaming off his gauntlet, the device crackling with the promise of more attacks. "Even my fool brother staged a superior resistance than **this**!"

            " _Valerie_! If you can't set the whole vendetta thing aside so we don't _all_ end up like this," Danny indicated the crippled ghost held in the Ecto-Skeleton's arms,"-then just do it as a favor for _me_ , okay?"

            _That_ stopped the huntress up short. That Danny of all people was standing up for the fire-headed ghost was such a foreign concept that it gave her pause. Even if he was only doing so out of acceptance that they needed Dan's overkill brute force to win, it was still a baffling, alien idea.

            A silver bolt lashed by, Valerie yelping in surprise as she deflected it with the Reality Gauntlet, the energy rebounding off the golden gauntlet and carving a ragged trench in the ground below. While she was dealing with that, the tyrant whirled, weapons in hand as he launched his armored bulk in Danny's direction. After all, he hadn't finished Dan off yet; that his strike would no doubt deal with the pilot of the Ecto-Skeleton along with the crippled ghost was simply icing on the cake.

            "Whoa-!" Danny yelped when a flickering green blast knocked the powered armor upside the bubble canopy, sending the suit tumbling off to the side and out of the incoming blade's path; the sound of _something_ being hit, and hit hard coming from where he'd dropped Dan.

            Even Valerie had to stare, not entirely sure she could believe what she'd just seen, as Dan struggled to push himself upright; an effort badly hampered not only by the hole in his torso, but also by the fact one arm was bent at an unnatural angle and didn't seem able to move properly while the other was a nearly unrecognizable green pulp. Green goo marked the pointed claws of Maghnus's gauntlet and the edge of his sword; in blasting Danny out of the way, Dan had instead taken the brunt of the blow, losing use of both arms in the process.

            "How quaint, that your noble sacrifice shall ultimately be in vain!" Maghnus loomed above the struggling ghost, sword raised to finish the job.

            "Don't get the wrong idea." Dan managed to snarl through hissing gasps for air. "'Noble' is one thing I don't-"

            A bright yellow beam lanced out, the ground beneath the wounded ghost rippling almost like some sort of fluid and floating the fire-headed ghost out from under Maghnus's sword strike that no doubt would have finished Dan off. A short distance away, Valerie stood, Reality Gauntlet primed and aimed, her expression unreadable.

            "Valerie!" Danny exclaimed, watching with a mix of trepidation and relief when a flick of the huntress' hand lifted Dan a few feet off the ground. "Guys, c'mon, we gotta keep the big guy busy!"

            With a roar of rocket thrusters, Danny slammed the Ecto-Skeleton into Maghnus's unguarded flank, momentarily unbalancing the tyrant and causing a shot aimed at Valerie to go astray. Tucker and Dora immediately followed the shorter ghost's lead, lunging at Maghnus claws first and fireballs aimed at his smug face. In short order the rest of the defenders joined in on the dogpile, doing everything they could to keep the tyrant's attention off of Valerie and what she was doing with the Reality Gauntlet.

            "Don't _you_ get the wrong idea either, ghost." The huntress growled, launching another golden beam at the prone ghost. "As much as I hate it, I owe you one for saving Danny back there."

            Dan was unable to reply for the moment, the ghost preoccupied with trying not to squirm at the sensation of the gauntlet's power as it ripped through his already ragged form. Gradually the wound in his torso shrank, other injuries also mending far more rapidly than they would have without the aid. Assuming he would have survived long enough to heal on his own in the first place.

            "And I'm not about to let some horn-headed freak steal _my_ revenge from me, you got that ghost?" Valerie continued.

            Dan touched down, prodding at his torso through the hole in his suit. "Gentle as always." He snorted, trying not to grimace too badly. "And not even the decency to fix my suit while you're at it."

            "Whatever. We settle our score after Maghnus is taken care of, got it?" Valerie eyed Dan warily.

            "If by 'taken care of', you mean 'torn limb from limb', then that's fine with me." The fire-headed ghost countered, showing his fangs in a wicked smile. "After dealing with Maghnus, settling things with _you_ will be like a pleasant diversion."

            Before Valerie could retort, Dan was already in the air and launching himself at Maghnus, a scattering of green blasts the only warning for the others to get out of the way. Dan shot overhead, almost close enough to grab one of the tyrant's remaining horns, a large green beam taking the place of witty banter.

            " **You**!" The tyrant bellowed, lightly scorched from the blow. "You should be **dead**!"

            "Funny you should mention that." Dan sneered, flitting around a red counter-attack. "I'd say that I was, but I got better... except I _am_ a ghost. A neat quandary, isn't it?"

            "....Okay, that's not from _my_ vocabulary." Danny quipped from the sidelines as Maghnus sent a volley of silver beams arcing toward the fire-headed ghost.

            "Less talking, more butt-kicking!" Valerie raced past, covering Dan's attack and negating Maghnus's gauntlet-beams with the Reality Gauntlet's power. "I'll keep him from hitting you with the gauntlet, now get in there and do that dismembering thing you're so proud of!"

            "I'm not taking orders from anyone, especially _you_." Dan sniped, darting past a wild sword swing and lobbing a needle-like volley of small green blasts at the tyrant's face.

            "Well, they _almost_ have that whole teamwork thing down." Tucker noted, shifting back to his normal form so as to be a smaller target for errant blasts.

            It was clear that the fight was all about Dan, Valerie, and Maghnus now; the rest would most likely get in the way of the high speed display as Maghnus launched himself into the air, Dan and Valerie giving chase. Within moments, the view from the ground was that of a sky gone mad; a crossfire of red and green orbs and explosions, gold and silver lightning, ominous jagged bolts of black that were almost invisible against the purple sky, with two small figures circling the tyrant at the center of the maelstrom.

            The fact that the powers of the three parts of the Ascendancy they had were split seemed at first a handicap; with Dan wielding the Lesser Ascendancy's power, and Valerie using the Reality Gauntlet, it seemed as if the collective firepower couldn't be concentrated enough to truly challenge Maghnus' gauntlet and natural strength. Valerie was too busy deflecting blows from Maghnus' gauntlet to try and strike the tyrant back; and Dan...

            The fire-headed ghost had gained more than just a second wind from Valerie's treatment; judging by the deranged sneer on his face, Dan seemed to be truly _enjoying_ himself, dodging around beams and sword swings to pepper Maghnus with blasts and the occasional punch or kick if he could get in close enough. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to the bolts from the tyrant's gauntlet, apparently trusting in Valerie's hatred and desire for revenge to keep the fire-headed ghost safe from the device. Certainly not the most sane thing in the world, trusting that someone wants to kill you so badly as to deny anyone else the opportunity; but then Dan had a well-established history of tending toward the 'not sane' end of the scale.

            "It is time that we finish this laughable battle!" Maghnus roared, lunging to grab at Dan with his gauntlet-protected arm, simultaneously sending a wide arc-shaped red blast in Valerie's direction.

            "I couldn't agree more!" Dan grinned wickedly, seeing his opportunity and rushing to meet the tyrant's lunge.

            Valerie dispersed the blast headed her way and immediately launched a counterattack, a golden volley that momentarily consumed Maghnus' attention. A single moment of distraction in which Maghnus wasn't immediately paying attention to Dan. With a ruthless efficiency born of nothing short of experience, the fire-headed ghost grabbed the tyrant's arm, quickly flipping himself up and within range of the giant ghost's shoulder. Without waiting to toss out a snappy one-liner, Dan sneered and formed a large green beam over one arm and brought the ectoplasmic thing down at the leather armor protecting Maghnus' left shoulder.

            "What was that you said about a single moment of weakness?" The fire-headed ghost purred as green energy blade sliced through the armor with ease... and kept going, aided by a forceful wrenching of the joint courtesy of Dan's free hand.

            The tyrant's only answer was an enraged bellow and a reflexive swing that Dan didn't have time to evade as Maghnus' right fist arced over like a living hammer. Dan took the blow full on, sent tumbling several dozen feet backward and laughing all the way as he halted his flight, holding his prize aloft.

            "What's he laughing about-?" Sam began to ask when Danny and Tucker both exploded in a flurry of excitement.

            "Look what he's got!"

            "Dude, I'm not sure if that's just gross or just awesome."

            "I've been told I have a razor sharp wit." Dan chuckled, plucking the gauntlet off of the tyrant's severed arm and casually discarding the still-twitching limb. "But I doubt it was meant so... literally."

            "... And he skipped over the _really_ easy 'disarmed' joke, too." Danny noted.

            "You-!" Maghnus hissed at Dan, shock written all over his normally immobile pale face. "Not even my own brother could-! I swear I'll-!"

            "It's called pain!" Valerie quipped, cutting the tyrant's halting tirade off as she sent a fresh volley of blasts from the Reality Gauntlet racing toward the wounded ghost. "Get used to it!"

            "While I hate to agree with _her_... I have to agree with her." Dan sneered, fitting the tyrant's stolen gauntlet over his left arm and watching with a quirked eyebrow as the magic device shrank to fit comfortably on him. "It won't last long, I _promise_."

            "Never!" Maghnus tried to lunge at Dan, to fight back with the sword still clasped tightly in his remaining hand.

            A lunge that was cut suddenly short when massive stone hands rumbled up from the ground to snare the tyrant, and a golden beam transformed his sword into a large sword-shaped balloon. Valerie smirked, studying her handiwork, another bolt turning the metal armor protecting Maghnus' vitals into cracked shards of glass.

            "Let's see how you like being on the receiving end, shall we?" Dan wiggled his left hand, taking aim with the stolen gauntlet.

            The tyrant barely had time for his eyes to go wide before Dan hauled off and sent a silver blast lurching through the air to make impact squarely in Maghnus' now-unprotected midsection. He shouted in either pain or blind rage and fired off a red shockwave that shattered the stone restraints and sent Dan and Valerie both falling back a dozen feet.

            "We're _not_ dragging this out, got it?" Valerie growled at Dan, while using the Reality Gauntlet again to hamper the wounded tyrant's motion. "Finish it off already!"

            "But I haven't even started on the other arm!" Dan protested, voice dripping with sarcasm.

            In the end, the killing blow seemed almost anticlimactic. There was no deafening explosion, though the blasts launched were massive in size. Just the tyrant's final defiant shout cut short, lost in the massive ball of silver and golden light that was difficult to look straight at without hurting the eyes. Several long seconds later, the light faded, and finally there came the noise; the sonic thunderclap as air rushed in to fill the void left in the wake of the blast, the sound rolling and bouncing wildly off the wreckage, from the walls of the crater, off the malformed, twisted wreckage of the massive battle.

            And then, silence.

            Any cry of celebration quickly froze in the throats of the victorious defenders as the dust settled.

            "Oh no..." Danny squeaked.

            "They're-!" Sam tried to keep her own voice from cracking.

            "Well, Valerie." Dan stated dryly, glaring as he leveled his left arm, and the gauntlet in Valerie's direction. "Didn't we have a score to settle?"

            "I've been waiting a _long_ time for this, ghost." The huntress responded with a frigid tone, sighting down the Reality Gauntlet at the fire-headed ghost. "I've had to wait too long for the chance to finally avenge everybody."


	25. Revenant Reflections

**Revenant Reflections**  
"So many dreams were broken and so much was sacrificed  
Was it worth the ones we loved and had to leave behind?  
So many years have passed, who are the noble and the wise?  
Will all our sins be justified?"  
_-"Hand of Sorrow" - Within Temptation_

            "Um, guys? Can't we at least celebrate beating the main bad guy before you get back to business as usual?" Tucker squeaked into the strained silence.

            Neither Dan nor Valerie seemed to be listening, locked in a tense stare-down. Each was clearly waiting for the other to make the first move rather than surrender any slight advantage.

            "Valerie, this really isn't a good idea." Danny hesitantly remarked. "Remember what happened to the Ghost Zone when the gauntlets were used against each other?"

            "I don't think she really _cares_." Dan remarked dryly, not taking his glare off the huntress. "And given my track record, do you really think it's something _I'm_ concerned about?"

            "It's the first time they've been completely evenly matched." Sam murmured worriedly.

            The others tore their attention from Dan and Valerie's standoff momentarily to look at the goth in confusion.

            "He's got three-fourths of that Ascendancy thing!" Tucker protested. "How the heck is that supposed to be even?!"

            "According to the book, Pariah had three-fourths of it, and the best he could come up with was trapping Maghnus." Sam countered. "It's not stupid brute force that counts, the _gauntlets_ are evenly matched and that's the only thing that really matters!"

            "And I don't intend to repeat Maghnus' mistake in being trapped." Dan interjected with a sneer at Valerie. "So I wouldn't bother to waste my time trying, Valerie."

            "Oh, I'm not planning to lock you up, ghost." The huntress hissed. "I'm planning on _destroying_ everything you are, and everything you stand for!"

            "You mean the very thing I've spent the past ten _years_ trying to do to you?" The fire-headed ghost taunted, flexing his armored fingers as though warming up for a fight.

            "Shut up!" Valerie clenched her fists, a golden glow shimmering just above the surface of the Reality Gauntlet. "I'm not the one that destroyed an entire city and everyone in it!"

            "Do we _really_ need to rehash the who-did-what nonsense again?" Dan rolled his eyes, tensing to spring.

            The initial exchange of blows was nothing in comparison to their previous duels; certainly nothing remotely close to what the battle with Maghnus had been like. The shots were fired near-simultaneously, it was anyone's guess who actually shot first. Matching beams of silver and gold collided, the opposing energies canceling one another out with a puff of displaced reality.

            "Guys! Cut it out!" Tucker shouted, hoping that the fight could be broken up before the power of the two gauntlets could be thrown at one another full-force.

            "Valerie! Dan!" Danny jetted in between the two, planting the Ecto-Skeleton firmly in between the combatants. "You don't need to do th-"

            "Out of the way." Dan carelessly blasted Danny off to the side.

            "Danny!" Valerie yelped, momentarily staring at the broken power armor before fixing her glare on Dan again. "How dare you?!"

            "How dare I _what_?" Dan sneered. "He was _in the way_. You know how poorly I react to people _getting in my way_."

            "Danny!" Sam and Tucker ran over to the broken Ecto-Skeleton, worried about their friend's safety.

            "Shall we continue, Valerie?" Dan sneered, stalking forward.

            "Dude, I thought you'd _changed_!" Tucker shouted. "Danny managed to trust you, and _this_ is wha-"

            "Shut it, Tucker." Dan called over his shoulder. "This has nothing to do with him, not now."

            Valerie held her fire, watching the ghost and alert to see what his next move would be. This was what he was _supposed_ to be like, why was she so hesitant to attack him and resume business as usual?

            _Maybe because if you go back to business as usual, it's going to be for the_ last _time, ever._ Some more rational part of her mind murmured. _And you're_ afraid _of what will happen with the gauntlets._

            Reminders of what could happen dotted the area like a freakish preview of what was to come if the powers of the Ascendancy were to clash at full strength. After all, the Ghost Zone had resembled the Earth in the distant past; at least until those powers had collided, leaving only the post-apocalyptic remnants of that world floating in emptiness. What would happen if that catastrophe was to be replayed on Earth itself?

            "What are you waiting for, ghost?" Valerie hissed into the tense silence that no one else dared to break, mind racing as to what she could do to Dan. _You can't destroy him, but all it takes is one good hit, transform him, turn him into something you_ can _destroy. It's that simple._

            "Danny!"

            The sudden cry briefly drew both combatants' attention to where Sam was tearfully pulling a slightly bruised Danny from the wreckage of the Ecto-Skeleton. Apparently despite appearances, Dan had either missed the cockpit or merely pulled his blow. The shorter ghost was battered and certainly a little worse for the wear, but with the help of his friends, Danny was on his feet.

            "You got off lucky, ghost." The huntress glared daggers at Dan. "If you'd-"

            "If I'd _what_?" The fire-headed ghost cut her off mockingly. "If I'd killed him? Oh wait, I seem to recall already _doing_ that once. If you'd like I could replay it for you."

            "Stay away from Danny!" Sam snarled, vine whip at the ready as soon as Dan implied violence against her friend.

            Dan ignored Sam's warning, instead choosing to verbally press Valerie further. "I'm surprised you're still waiting. Don't our little _dates_ usually open with you trying to kill me, my trying to kill you, a little witty banter, and someone on the sidelines getting torn to bits instead?"

            "Don't joke about it!" Valerie snarled.

            "Who's joking?" The ghost retorted with a sinister purr. "I never told you what I _wanted_ since I came back from Wisconsin eleven years ago, have I?"

            "What you... what?" Valerie cocked an eyebrow, unwilling to let momentary confusion distract her from being ready to open fire.

            "The past, Valerie." Dan sneered. "Wouldn't you want to get rid of those painful reminders of it?"

            "Quit trying to play games with me, ghost!" The huntress spat. "It didn't work then, it won't work now!"

            "This is _not_ a game, I can assure you." Dan shot back. "And I am not _playing_."

            Valerie snorted in disgust. "...You never said anything besides how much you _hate_ everything and everyone, ghost."

            She would never forget that speech, the day of Dan's first rampage over a decade ago. That he hated so much, hated the city, hated his classmates, hated _her_.... for what she'd done to him. It had taken nearly two years after that day for the huntress to come to terms with events; two years before she had the information that let her hate him again, hate him and fight him with everything she could throw at the fire-headed ghost.

            "Yes... and for ten years I wanted one thing. Power." Dan growled. "Power to destroy anything and everything that I hate. Including you. _Especially_ you."

            "Gee, I'm flattered." Valerie retorted dryly, still watching for an opening.

            "And isn't it so terribly amusing-" Dan raised the gauntlet to look at it with a wicked smile.

            The huntress took the opportunity, lunging at Dan with the Reality Gauntlet glowing and ready. The beam missed; the ghost sidestepped it with ease, a bolt from the other gauntlet neatly canceling the attack.

            "-after all those years of effort the power to do exactly that would fall right into my grasp." The fire-headed ghost finished his statement as though there hadn't been the interruption. "With this, I could finally destroy you, destroy the past, destroy all those inconvenient memories. After ten years of wanting to do it, now I can, with hardly a thought."

            Everyone tensed, perhaps planning to dogpile Dan to prevent him from wielding the gauntlet's power. He seemed almost oblivious, studying the silver gleam of the gauntlet, staring down the length of the weapon he had pointed at Valerie.

            The tension broke with a near-audible snap at the sound of an explosion.

            "When that's _not_ what I want anymore." Dan stated flatly, arm still extended with wisps of smoke rising from his glove and the sleeve of his jumpsuit; the silver gauntlet lay reduced to a few shards of unvaporized metal driven into the dirt from the force of the ecto-blast that had destroyed it.

            "Wait, what?" Sam's eyebrows shot up in disbelief at the idea that the ghost had willingly tossed aside the chance to accomplish his goal of the past decade.

            Tucker's expression hovered somewhere between relief and shock; the royal geek had been seriously worried that everything he'd done since Dan's return had been in vain. Paulina had one eyebrow raised, but still had a weapon trained on the tall ghost.

            Danny looked like he'd expected it all along.

            Dan turned his back to Valerie, about to walk or fly away; stopping when a gold beam shot past and narrowly missed his shoulder.

            "Where the heck do you think you're going, ghost?!" Valerie demanded, sounding even angrier than before as she kept the Reality Gauntlet aimed squarely at the fire-headed ghost's back. "You really think  you can just waltz out of here like that?"

            Dan didn't turn around to face the huntress, even as he visibly tensed. While he had thrown down his weapon... Valerie had yet to do the same. He was vulnerable in a way he'd never been prior, standing essentially unarmed in front of the woman who'd spent the past decade dedicated almost entirely to his destruction.

            "Valerie-" Danny tried to interrupt her, a worried look on his face.

            "You think I'm just going to let you get away, when I finally have a chance to-"

            "To _what_?" Dan still refused to face the huntress, but the bitter warning note in his voice was clear.

            "To finish you off, that's what!" "Valerie ranted. "Ten years of trying to get rid of you, you think I'm gonna forget about that?! After everything you did to me, to Danny, to my father, to _everyone_ , do you think I'm going to forgive you and let you leave here in one piece, ghost?"

            "Valerie, you don't-" Danny attempted to interrupt again.

            "Stay out of this, Danny!" She snapped in response, the shorter ghost recoiling at her tone. "This is between me and _him_!"

            "Suppose you go through with it, Valerie." Dan broke into the hurt silence that followed on the heels of Valerie's outburst. "What is such a worthless act going to achieve, really?"

            "What do you think?" The huntress hissed. "It's not worthless to me, it's revenge!"

            "Which accomplishes... what?" Dan retorted, still refusing to face Valerie. "It's not going to bring anyone _back_. So what's the real point?"

            "Putting an old nightmare to rest for good!" She growled, golden glow surrounding the Reality Gauntlet.

            No one dared speak into the silence that followed, the pregnant pause stretching uninterrupted. If she wanted to, there was little chance that Valerie would miss with the Reality Gauntlet a second time; and it was clear she was nearly on the brink of ending it.

            "Good bye and good riddance-"

            She was stopped up short by Dan's reaction. He was _laughing_. It was a bitter laughter, the ghost clutching at his ribs he was laughing so hard.

            _Has he lost it?_ Valerie held her fire for a confused moment. _Is he about to attack?_

            "Oh, this is _rich_!" Dan managed to get out around his laughter. "A word of warning, it's awfully hard to stop at just _one!_ "

            Valerie withheld her attack in outright confusion. "One what?!"

            The ghost's laughter died in an instant as he glanced over his shoulder at the huntress, deadly serious. "One murder."

            Valerie was about to say something, but whatever she was about to say was cut off when Dan continued.

            "Destroying someone you **_hate_** with every last fiber of your being when they have no power at all to fight back..." The tall ghost shrugged, sparing a wry glance in Danny's direction. "Funny how things come full circle, isn't it?"

            He might as well have walked over and slapped the huntress across the face with that statement; Valerie certainly recoiled almost as though she'd been struck. Given the situation, provoking the huntress had to be nearly suicidal, but then she couldn't see Dan's face; the ghost's expression oddly resigned as if he had perhaps come to terms with his imminent demise.

            "What are-" Valerie's voice cracked on a wildly indignant shriek. "I am _nothing_ like you!"

            "Are you sure about that?" Dan finally turned to face Valerie. "I've spent the better part of ten years trying to _kill you_ , the rest of the city was more of a... pleasant diversion. And what have _you_ spent the past decade doing?"

            " _Protecting_ that city, ghost!" Valerie protested.

            "Which centered on one single little goal." Dan tsked, wagging a finger mockingly at Valerie. "Trying to _kill me_."

            "I am _nothing_ like you!" The huntress repeated furiously.

            "It won't help you feel any better." Dan continued as though he hadn't been interrupted. "When I'm gone, you still won't feel any better about what you did to _me_... or to _Danny_ a decade ago. But don't let _that_ stop you, remember how _badly_ you wanted it a year ago, playing tag in the ruins?"

            "Shut up!" Valerie snarled. "Shut up shut up shut **up**!"

            Dan partially obliged, turning away from the huntress again, his arms crossed. "Even I didn't drag it out this badly when I killed _him-_ " The ghost nodded vaguely in Danny's direction. "-so if you're going to end it, will you get it **over** with already?"

            Silence resumed its place, looming large over the uneasy scene. Valerie stood poised, Reality Gauntlet still aimed and glowing, visibly quaking with either fury or uncertainty. Dan might as well have been a statue, unmoving save for the breeze toying with his cape and his flickering hair. No one else dared try to interfere after both the ghost and the huntress had reacted so poorly to Danny's attempts to intervene; the moment was theirs, and theirs alone.

            Valerie shouted a frustrated curse, firing a powerful beam from the Reality Gauntlet.

            Dan tried to suppress an involuntary cringe, not entirely sure what to expect. He supposed that being altered by the Gauntlet and then blasted to bits would probably sting a little; and by a little, the ghost was pretty certain he would be paid back for what he did to every one of his victims, several times over. While he was mostly resigned to not being able to do anything about it, it still wasn't something he was looking forward to.

            So when that _didn't_ happen, he was somewhat surprised. A quick glance behind him revealed Valerie had the Gauntlet aimed _skyward_. The bolt hadn't been aimed at him; it had been aimed somewhere else entirely. White clouds drifted across a plain blue sky, the purple and green and floating doors of the Ghost Zone no longer apparent. Most of the ghosts that had been involved in the battle were gone as well. The huntress hadn't turned the Reality Gauntlet on him; she'd instead used the powerful artifact to undo the damage Maghnus had done in pursuit of trying to retrieve the Ascendancy; the dimensional barrier between the real world and the Ghost Zone had been restored.

            "I don't want to _ever_ be like you, ghost." Valerie growled, turning away from Dan, fists clenched. "Now get outta here, before I change my mind!"

            The ghost snorted at that, keeping a sigh of relief to himself. "You and I have a lot in common, whether we like it or not."

            He lifted into the air, a whirling green portal spiraling into existence at his fingertips.

            "Goodbye, Valerie."


	26. The Circle's End

**The Circle's End**  
"There’s a moment  
That we all come to  
In our own time and our own space  
Where all that we’ve done  
We can undo  
If our heart's in the right place."  
_-"When You Come Back to Me Again" - Garth Bro_ _oks_ **  
**

"Hey, Valerie, you remember what today is, right?"

            The huntress rolled her eyes, wishing she could just blow Paulina's comment off. How could she _forget_ , with reminders everywhere around her? Had it really been that long since everything happened?

            "Like I could forget." She muttered with evident annoyance. "I'm _not_ participating in any big city events about it. You know how much I hate the spotlight."

            Paulina eyed her friend with concern. "It's been a year, and nobody's seen him since, have they?"

            That got a derisive snort from the huntress. "It's like he's disappeared entirely. Tucker hasn't been able to find him either. And if Vlad's seen him, that old jerk hasn't deigned to share the news."

            Paulina straightened the collar of her business suit; the Latina had left her duties with the Ghost Patrol behind, having been formally elected mayor of Amity Park. What was left of it, at any rate. Rebuilding had begun with almost startling quickness after the battle with Maghnus had ended, but the new city bore hardly any resemblance to the old Amity Park, or even New Amity. What was left of the old Underground had collapsed completely within days of the battle against Maghnus, marring the otherwise perfectly round crater. It hadn't taken long for the crater to flood, hiding what little was left of the New Amity ruins beneath a deep lake. The city was growing along one shore, new buildings steadily reclaiming the battlefield, and slowly moving out into the last remnants of the decade-old ruins of the original Amity Park.

            "It's still bothering you, isn't it?" Paulina asked Valerie. "What he said before he disappeared?"

            "I guess." Valerie shrugged.

            "Don't let it get to you, Valerie." Paulina gave her friend a pat on the shoulder. "I bet he was just saying that stuff to save his own hide and tick you off."

            "Maybe." She gave a noncommittal reply as she picked up her jet sled.

            "Where are you going?" Paulina eyed the huntress. "It'd be nice if you could at least put in an appearance at the memorial today."

            "That's about the last thing I want to do. I don't _need_ to be reminded of how many people got killed!" She protested, putting several steps between herself and the Latina. "I'll be out on patrol."

            Paulina frowned, watching Valerie hop onto the black and red jet sled and take off into the sky. The huntress had gotten increasingly restless and moody as days turned into weeks and then dragged on to months since the battle against the tyrant. The more the new city grew, the more restless Valerie got; Paulina was fairly certain that the huntress was spending more time outside the city than in it, often taking off for days at a time into the ruins.

            She had been as surprised as anyone else when Valerie had let Dan escape a year ago. After working with the huntress for the past decade, Paulina _knew_ the intensity with which Valerie hated the ghost; far above and beyond the mere call of duty to protect the city. It was an obsession, plain and simple, and Paulina was certain that the Ghost Zone would freeze over before anybody could talk Valerie into seeing a therapist or a grief counselor or _anything_ to try and deal with it properly.

            It was also clear that Dan's final words to Valerie had really struck a nerve; Paulina knew _she_ would never forget the howl of rage the huntress let loose after the fire-headed ghost disappeared into the Ghost Zone. The Reality Gauntlet bounced back into the air from how hard Valerie had thrown the device before obliterating it with her portable beam cannon.

            _It's too bad she blew it up, something like that would have made rebuilding a lot easier._ Paulina mused as she lost sight of Valerie in the distance. _Or at least it would shut Mr. Masters up with his bad jokes about his making poor investments._

            The Latina checked over her notes one final time before heading out herself. _I just hope Valerie sorts out what's bothering her before she drives herself nuts._

\---

            The daylight flashed and sparkled on the surface of the lake, abruptly cut by the wake of Valerie's flight low over the water. She didn't want to be anywhere near the city, near the festive mood that marked the one-year anniversary of Maghnus' defeat. It was supposed to be a worldwide event; it had taken a lot of effort for world governments to respond to the widespread panic when the tyrant had essentially merged the real world and the Ghost Zone, and so everybody was celebrating the victory.

            Her victory.

            Except it wasn't just _her_ victory. It was _his_ victory as well. _They_ beat Maghnus together.

            They, they, they. Plural. She and her _enemy_.

            So she ran from it. Only a handful of Patrol members who had survived the decade of rampages _and_ Maghnus' fatal blow to the city really even knew who Dan was anymore; to the rest of the world, the ghost was little more than a footnote in the records of that titanic battle. She was the one that would go down in the history books, whether she liked it or not. Accolades that she felt were ill-deserved two years ago when Dan had apparently been defeated now felt even more inappropriate.

            Valerie veered her sled around, disembarking atop a low hill on the lakeshore opposite the new city. Try as she might over the course of the past year, the huntress still couldn't call it 'home.' It wasn't familiar, neither the buildings nor the people. Most of the Patrol were fresh recruits who had moved to the new city; those who had participated in the final battle with Maghnus' army had largely fled to safer careers outside of the dual law enforcement and ghost protection purpose of the Patrol.

            In all honesty, it was something she'd considered more than once in the past year herself. She could never quite bring herself to turn over her equipment and responsibilities as head of the Patrol however, even as the organization's duties turned more and more toward regular law enforcement and away from being an anti-ghost militia. What else _could_ she do? Go back to working behind the counter of some fast-food place? Valerie had never finished high school, let alone college; her only marketable skill _was_ ghost hunting, and with increased interaction and cooperation on both sides of the portal that skill was in decreased demand.

            Then there were Dan's parting words that had haunted her the past year. That they were an awful lot alike, the ghost and the huntress. Valerie could deny it loudly and effectively to anyone and everyone that asked, but those parting words preyed mercilessly on her in the silence of the wastelands, the quiet times at night before sleep came and with it the usual horde of nightmares.

            At least she could take some vicarious happiness from knowing her friends were all doing well. Tucker had positively flourished in the aftermath of the battle, he and Dora were now spear-heading Ghost Zone-human world relations on a global scale, up to and including full-blown diplomacy with various national governments. There were rumors that the two ghosts were considering having kids, a thought that Valerie would fake a polite smile at while keeping her **_EW!_** to herself. Danny and Sam seemed to be as content as ever in one another's company, and Danny had even recovered some of his old spunk over the intervening year. She couldn't say how well Vlad was doing, the old man kept mostly to himself, though once again he'd made a substantial investment in developing the new city.

            Paulina had begun to truly thrive as an elected official, the Latina had a knack for convincing recalcitrant opposition into working with what she wanted. Valerie privately suspected it was only a matter of time before the ex-cheerleader pursued a full-blown career in politics.

            Which left Valerie... with what?

            A city to protect from a threat that she knew wouldn't return? Try as she might, Valerie had a hard time justifying her ongoing paranoia about Dan, even to herself. After all, the ghost had held the option in his hands to finish her and everyone else off; and he'd thrown it aside, leaving himself vulnerable and at her mercy.

            For some reason, it kept reminding her of Danny's confession that day in the park twelve years ago. Her friend had left himself wide open and vulnerable to her uncertain temper, and in her own shock, Valerie had completely bungled it. Danny had fled to parts unknown, setting in motion events that ultimately led to her final confrontation with Dan just a year ago. Had she done the right thing this time in letting Dan go? She'd blown her best chance of avenging all of the ghost's victims, including her own father; but would destroying the ghost now have done anything other than create one final victim? The killing had stopped, the desperate struggle against a seemingly unbeatable opponent nothing more than a memory.

            Valerie leaned her sled against a nearby boulder and strolled over to where the hill began to slope toward the lake.

            "Hello, Valerie."

            She whirled at the voice, ecto-cannon aimed at the figure leaning against a stunted tree that had found purchase on the rock-strewn slope. "You?!"

            Dan didn't seem overly perturbed by the weapon a foot from his head, red eyes instead fixed on some distant target, the ghost rubbing his chin in contemplation. "Isn't it funny?"

            Valerie raised an eyebrow, slowly lowering her weapon. "What?"

            "A year ago, just the _sight_ of you was enough to nearly tempt me back to old habits." Dan smirked, gaze still fixed on the city visible on the far side of the lake.

            "And now?" The huntress replied warily.

            The ghost shrugged. "Sorry to disappoint, but I don't think I can drum up the enthusiasm."

            "What about that entire destroy the past spiel?" Valerie retorted after an uncomfortable silence.

            "What's _left_?" Dan countered, gesturing at the city in the distance. " _That_ isn't Amity Park, not anymore. Even that stupid memorial statue is gone."

            Valerie quirked her other eyebrow at the declaration, finally deciding to holster her gun. The silence stretched on while she took the two steps forward to put herself level with the ghost.

            "Not _everything_ is gone." Valerie thought the statement sounded flat even to herself. "Danny and Sam and Tucker are still around, and so's Paulina-"

            "And _you_ haven't had the good sense to keel over yet; is that what you're getting at?" Dan interrupted. "This city is different, _they're_ different. I didn't need to destroy the past, it's already _dead_."

            The ghost's statement gave Valerie momentary pause. She hadn't expected to have her own feelings of displacement put to words; least of all by her arch-nemesis. Was that what brought Dan out to that remote hilltop? To look at Amity Park from a distance as he no doubt had in years past, only to find himself staring at a unrecognizable place? She glanced at the distant, unfamiliar skyline.

            "Isn't that what you _wanted_?" Valerie couldn't quite keep the venom out of her voice. "To 'get rid of all those painful memories?'"

            "Funny enough, it _didn't work_." He shot back with equal irritation. "I'm still here, those bothersome memories are still here, and the city isn't."

            "Like everything else changes and just leaves you behind, right?" The huntress snorted.

            "Hardly." The fire-headed ghost sneered. "Even _you_ changed a little, imagine my surprise."

            Before Valerie could respond, Dan continued.

            "If you hadn't, we wouldn't be _having_ this conversation. You'd be trying to blow my head off-"

            "And you'd be trying to return the favor." She interrupted.

            "Mmhm. Twelve years is a long time to spend trying to kill one person." Dan finally glanced briefly in Valerie's direction. "Especially when it's not going to solve the problem."

            "Right." Valerie frowned. It _was_ a long time to spend trying to kill someone; and in trying the huntress had discovered that the rest of the world seemed to be adapting and just getting on with the day to day business of life. "It's pretty exhausting, especially when that one person is the last thing left that still even seems familiar."

            Dan quirked an eyebrow at the huntress' remark. Since their showdown a year ago, he really couldn't drum up the rage anymore. A decade of enmity had apparently worn itself to ragged shreds between finally giving voice to the reasons for the anger and the desperate struggle against Maghnus. The dirty laundry was aired, the battle won.... leaving behind a vague sense of being totally and completely lost. He'd spent the better part of a year in hiding, and for no real reason; he had nothing to hide from. Nothing to hide from besides the question of "Now what?" He hadn't expected the huntress to apparently share that same sense of unease, of being left behind as everyone else moved on.

            Dan pondered on it, glancing at Valerie. It would be so easy to raise his arm and blast her head off right then and there. Her guard was down, nobody was around to witness it; heck, he could even lie to anyone that asked and claim he hadn't been there. The ghost considered it for a moment before discarding the notion. It wouldn't change anything, aside from making enemies of people who were almost beginning to trust him. Finishing Valerie off now would just be an empty, useless gesture.

            _His guard's down. You could probably take him down right now._ Valerie mused, stealing a glance at Dan, noticing the ghost's contemplative expression. She dropped the idea almost before it even came to her; assuming her weapons could finish the job, it wouldn't accomplish anything save for a momentary adrenaline high. She somehow suspected that if anything, it would only earn her the disapproval of her other friends, who seemed to have accepted Dan's existence, if little else. _I guess it is possible to run out of hate or something._

            "So now what?" Dan asked irritably. "I can't be bothered to kill you."

            "What, _I'm_ supposed to tell you what to do now?" The huntress shot back.

            The two stood glaring at one another for a few minutes, ghost and huntress not quite certain what to do in the glaring absence of their usual activities. The city skyline several miles away eventually drew their stares and the awkward silence loomed heavy.

            "So...." Valerie broke the silence in an attempt to make small talk. "What the heck did you mean with that lame line before you took off last year?"

            "Do I _really_ need to spell it out?" The ghost replied dryly. "Stubborn resistance to _getting over it_ , making stupid mistakes, home's destroyed, no surviving family-"

            "Yeah, well those last two wouldn't be _my_ situation if not for _somebody_ doing the destroying." Valerie interrupted crossly.

            "I'm still not apologizing for that." Dan remarked.

            "Yeah, well I'm not expecting you to anyway." The huntress groused. "And I'm not apologizing either. I already apologized to Danny for scaring him off."

            "Good enough, I suppose." He shrugged mockingly. "That's another one; incapable of saying sorry."

            "Will you shut up?"

            "Am I bothering you?" Dan smirked.

            "When _aren't_ you bothering me?" Valerie grumbled.

            "I could say the same about you."

            "Just shut up!"

            Dan finally obliged, leaving Valerie to her own thoughts. It was _fun_ to needle the huntress, perhaps even more enjoyable than trying to kill her for a decade had been. Since their last showdown after Maghnus' defeat, the idea, even most of the desire to kill her had faded in the wake of their desperate alliance and haphazard teamwork against the tyrant.

            Valerie tried to work up a good bout of anger, only succeeding in getting annoyed at herself because she couldn't. It didn't help that Dan was _right_ ; they had both lost everything, regardless of the specific reasons for those losses. In a world that seemed to have moved beyond the fear of ghostly terror from above, they were the last remnants of an existence that had rendered itself obsolete.

\---

            "Someone will have to take over his position, you realize."

            "Yes, but the question is _who_? There is no one that survived that comes anywhere close to matching his powers."

            Watching the victory celebrations taking place in Amity Park via a portable viewer from the safety of the Ghost Zone, the remaining Observants were holding an urgent meeting amid the ruins of Clockwork's tower.

            "Well..... maybe those powers will develop given time? And there is his staff, perhaps that will have an effect?" One of the Observants brandished the Master of Time's discarded staff.

            "We don't know that for certain!"

            "Didn't I _tell_ you I had set plans in motion to resolve the problem?"

            The new voice startled the one-eyed ghosts out of their bickering, all turning around in surprise at the unexpected interruption. Sitting on a broken piece of the tower wall as though nothing was wrong, writing something down in an old book, staff laying across his lap...

            ... was Clockwork.

            "You-!" Several of the Observants sputtered in shock. "What... but the staff-?"

            "That?" Clockwork gestured at the duplicate staff one of the one-eyed ghosts was holding. "It's not the real one, it's just a novelty pen."

            An embarrassed silence fell momentarily over the gathered ghosts. The item Danny and Sam had discovered, and everyone thought was Clockwork's staff was just a goofy oversized _pen_? And they'd all managed to _miss_ that particular fact? The Observant holding the device clicked the stopwatch button at the top of the staff, briefly examining the bottom and quickly discovering the pen point.

            "Besides that!" One of the others decided to get past the embarrassment of their collective error. "Where have you _been_ all this time? What have you been _doing_ while the rest of us were dealing with Maghnus?!"

            "What I was doing?" Clockwork finished whatever he was jotting down in the book, closing the battered tome with familiar ease. "Nothing much, I was just _watching_."

\---

            Minutes of silence dragged on to hours, the sun creeping toward dusk and the distant city exploding with light as the evening festivities got underway. Somber silence was replaced with the distant thunder of fireworks, only the faintest traces of loud music carrying across the lake on the wind. A celebration Valerie wouldn't have felt comfortable attending; and Dan wouldn't have been welcome at anyway.

            "I still hate you, by the way."

            "Don't worry, I still hate you too."

 

**\--THE END--**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a real trip rereading the entire saga after letting it sit since I first posted it to FFN forever ago. Amazingly, though there are some parts that I might have written a bit differently were I writing it now, overall it's aged remarkably well. Normally when I reread old stories I wrote, I end up cringing. 
> 
> To any returning readers, thanks again for all the faves and comments on the original postings. To any new readers, I hope you enjoyed it... and especially enjoyed not having to sit on some of the end-of-chapter cliffhangers I drove readers up the wall with during the saga's original run; they had to wait anywhere from a few days to a few MONTHS between chapters, you guys got all of it in a matter of days. ;)


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